KARACHI, Dec 28: Haq Parast candidate Nasreen Jalil was elected Naib Nazim of the City District Government Karachi on Wednesday amid uproar in the City Council and boycott of the election process by the opposition.

She defeated her rival, Saeed Ghani, who had the support of the PPP-backed Awam Dost Group, JI-backed Al-Khidmat Group and some other smaller groups in the house.

The election was held at the Council’s session under section 42(2) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance-2001 and the Rule-49 of the Sindh Local Government Elections Rules-2005.

Additional District and Sessions Judge and District Returning Officer (DRO) Syed Saeed Hasan presided over the first session of the Council.

The method adopted for polling was ‘show of hand’ after which voters signed the roll sheet. However, opposition members objected to it and Mr Rafiq Ahmed of the Al-Khidmat Group raised a point of order in this regard.

There was an uproar and when the session was called to order, the DRO announced the names of candidates. Members started raising slogans in favour of their respective candidates.

As the opposition’s demand for adopting the method of secret balloting was not heeded, all opposition members, led by their joint candidate, Saeed Ghani, staged a walkout.

When they returned to the house, they noted that polling through show of hands was under way. The opposition then boycotted the election.

During the voting process, the DRO repeatedly asked opposition members to cast their votes but they did not respond to his call.

Eventually, DRO Syed Saeed Hasan declared Ms Nasreen Jalil elected with 176 votes. As the result was announced, the council hall echoed with slogans raised by Haq Parast Group in jubilation.

Later, Ms Jalil held a press conference where she expressed her willingness to take along the opposition and work in the greater interest of the city. She assured all towns of her full corporation. She urged the opposition to play a positive role and not to indulge in criticism for the sake of criticism.

Mr Saeed Ghani and other opposition members also held a press conference and said that they had been physically prevented from taking part in the election process. “We wanted to take part in the election process but when we were returning to the house, we were not allowed into the building. Our women members were stopped and subjected to physical checking.”

Mr Ghani pointed out that the premises was occupied by police and the vehicles belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

He claimed that all the seats in the council hall had already been occupied by outsiders and the opposition members were made to keep standing. “We informed the DRO but he failed to take any action. When we were staging a walkout, MQM workers threw stones at us,” he alleged.

“I was subjected to threats by the outsiders in the presence of the DRO, who did not take any action,” Mr Ghani told Dawn.

“First we staged a walkout for about 15 minutes, and on return found the council members signing the roll, we thought it might be the identification process, but when we were told that voting was effected without any action having been taken against the outsiders, we boycotted the election process.”

The opposition candidate maintained that in the SLGO-2001 and the Elections Rules-2002, there was no provision of ‘show of hands’ as election method. He insisted that the rules provides for secret ballot.

“What happened during the election process was totally illegal,” Mr Ghani added.

TOWN ELECTIONS: Meanwhile, polling for the election of a naib nazim for six towns was held in the respective town councils on Wednesday.

MQM-backed Haq Parast Group’s candidates returned unopposed as naib nazims in 11 towns whereas the candidate of the PPP-backed Awam Dost Group, Abdullah Rahim Baloch, also retuned unopposed as naib nazim of Lyari Town.

According to unofficial results, the 11 HP candidates declared elected unopposed are Nasir Taimouri (Saddar), Ali Akbar (Shah Faisal), Sharafat Ali (Malir), Asif Hasnain (Landhi), Asghar Qureshi (Korangi), Shakil Dakhni (New Karachi), Sohail Ansar Zaidi (Gulberg), Ahsanullah Khan (North Nazimabad), Tasneemul Hasan Farooqi (Liaquatabad), Shoaib Akhtar (Gulshan) and Shahid Bashir (Orangi).

In Keamari Town, three candidates were in the run and Khushal Pakistan Group-backed Ameer Hamza, defeated his rival, Awam Dost Group-backed Hanif Mohammad Jaskani, and another candidate Shah Nawaz Jadoon.

In Bin Qasim Town, Yousaf Shah, an independent candidate, defeated Nazeer Mohammad of the Awam Dost candidate whereas in Baldia Town, Zahid Mehmood of the Haq Parast Group defeated Syed Attaullah Shah.

In Site Town, Badshah Khan of Haq Parast Group defeated Mohammad Nawaz, and in Jamshed Town, Mohammad Arif Ajeka of Haq Parast Group defeated Anthony Naveed.