KARACHI, Sept 21: With the withdrawal of three out of a total of 10 candidates for the slot of city district nazim, Karachi, on Wednesday, seven aspirants are now in the fray. Besides, 60 other aspirants earlier vying for reserved seats in different categories also submitted their withdrawal papers.

Wednesday (Sept 21) was the last day for the withdrawal of candidature in the third phase of local government elections during which nazims for city districts, districts, towns and tehsils would be elected and at the same time members of the city district councils on reserved seats will be elected through indirect elections.

There are 59 seats for women, and nine each of peasants/workers minorities in the city council Karachi.

The returning officer for the city district government Karachi, Syed Saeed Hasan, an additional district & sessions judge, informed Dawn that the three candidates for city district nazim who had submitted their withdrawal papers were Mr Babar Ghauri, Syed Waseem Akhtar and Mr M.A. Jalil.

All the three belonged to the Haq Parast Panel, backed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Following their withdrawal, the Haq Parast Panel would be represented by Syed Mustafa Kamal as its official candidate.

The other six candidates now in the field to contest the slot of the city district nazim are Niamatullah Khan of Al-Khidmat Panel, backed by Jamaat-i-Islami, and his covering candidate Mian Muslim Pervez; Ms Fauzia Wahab of the Awam Dost Panel, backed by Pakistan People’s Party; Syed Zahid Ali of the Watan Nawaz Panel, backed by Pakistan Muslim League-N, and two independents, Dr Mohammad Hanif and Rizwan Ikram Khanzada.

Although the opposition’s efforts to filed a consensus candidate against the coalition-sponsored rival in a one-to-one contest did not succeed, the main contestants are believed to be Syed Mustafa Kamal of the Haq Parast Panel and Mr Niamatullah Khan of the Al-Khidmat Panel despite presence of the candidates backed by PPP and PML-N, according to observers.

Among the 60 candidates who have withdrawn from the contest on reserved seats were 31 who had been seeking a seat for women. Their withdrawal has left 139 candidates for 59 women seats. Twenty candidates submitted their withdrawal papers filed against nine seats reserved for peasants/workers for which 68 candidates are now in the contest. For the nine reserved seats of minorities, 35 candidates are contesting election following withdrawal of nine aspirants on Wednesday.

According to the schedule, polling will be held on October 6 for which the Election Commission would allot election symbols to the candidates. It is likely to complete the process by Thursday and after updating the final list of candidates, would also give go ahead to the printing of ballot papers at the government printing press.

The strength of electoral college for the slot of city nazim and members of the council against reserved seats is 2,314. Ballot papers are to be printed in different colours representing different categories of seats.

The white ballot paper will contain names of candidates for the city nazim, pink for those contesting reserved seats for women in district council, blue for the candidates of peasants/workers seat, brown for those of minority communities, orange for the aspirants of nazim of town/tehsil council, yellow for those contesting on reserved seats for women in town/tehsil council, green for the candidates of peasants/workers and violet for the contestants of minority communities seats reserved in town/tehsil council.

For the election of nazims and members of town/tehsil councils against the reserved seats, the electoral college comprises members of UCs with in the concerned town/tehsil.