LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party candidates for the slots of mayor and deputy mayor of Larkana and chairman and vice chairman of the Larkana district council returned with a thumping majority defeating their rivals belonging to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) in the elections held amid tight security at two different venues on Thursday.

Larkana Deputy Commissioner Rabia Siyal acted as returning officer in the polling for the election of mayor and deputy mayor held in the Begum Nusrat Bhutto Memorial Hall. The election with the show of hands remained peaceful.

PPP’s Anwar Ali Luhar and Mohammed Amin Shaikh with 29 of the 32 votes cast were declared elected as the mayor and deputy mayor, respectively,

Their GDA rivals, Abdul Hafeez and Syed Imran Ali Shah, did not turn up to take part in the contest.

Larkana district council

In the Larkana district council elections, the PPP-backed pair — Aijaz Ahmed Leghari and Assadullah Bhutto — won the seats of chairman and vice chairman, respectively, obtaining 57 votes in the house of 69.

Ameer Bakhsh Bhayo and Khuda Bakhsh Tunio, GDA’s candidates, could get only eight votes. Two GDA members and one of the PPP abstained. A PPP member had passed away earlier.

Chief Monitoring Officer Ms Sorath Mazhar acted as returning officer in the polling.

The Dokri and Badah town committees were swept away by GDA-backed candidates.

Dokri town committee is consisted of 12 members where PPP fielded Ms Perh Dhakan and Deedar Ali Junejo for the slots of chairperson and vice chairman, while GDA-backed Abdul Hameed Jessar and Saifullah Soomro contested against them for the slots.

The PPP candidates received only three votes while GDA pair bagged nine.

The 24-member house of Badah also elected GDA candidates for the chairman and vice chairman seats.

GDA’s Badaruddain Sariyo and Gulzar Ali Gopang got 16 votes, while PPP’s Sikandar Ali and Sajjad Hussain managed to get only eight.

The PPP candidates from Dari, Hyderi, Empire and Sachal town committees of the Larkana Municipal Corporation have already been declared elected unopposed, and so was the results in the Naudero and Ratodero municipal committees in favour of the ruling party.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2023