Pakistan People’s Party nominates Barrister Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui as Karachi mayor candidate

KARACHI, June 05 (SABAH): The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Sindh on Monday selected an unelected candidate for the post of Karachi mayor and announced Barrister Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui— the spokesperson for the provincial government — as the party’s nominee for the top slot.

Elections for the Karachi mayor’s slot are scheduled to be held on June 15, as the PPP has become the single largest party with 155 members, including the reserved seats, in the 367-strong house.

Currently, no single party has a simple majority of 179 votes in the house, the count that is needed to ascertain who wins the coveted seat of the port city’s mayor. As per the latest statistics, the total number of the PPP, PML-N and JUI-F is 175.

On the other hand, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has emerged as the second largest party with total 130 seats, including the reserved seats, while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) bagged a total 63 seats. The alliance between the two parties stands at 193. Apparently, the alliance has enough numbers to win the coveted seat but the PPP has been claiming that a “jiyala” will rule the metropolis this time.

Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that no one is pressurised but if someone decides to vote as per their “conscience” then they will respect their decision.

Besides announcing the candidates for mayor and deputy slots, the PPP also unveiled a list of candidates for the positions of chairman and vice-chairman in 13 towns of the mega city.

As per the details, the ruling party in the province finalsed name of Salman Abdullah Murad for the slot of Karachi deputy mayor.

Meanwhile, PPP Sindh President Senator Nisar Ahmed Khuhro announced names of slots of chairmen, deputy chairmen, mayors, and deputy mayors.

According to Sindh local government law, Murtaza Wahab will have to get elected as UC member to retain the slot. The election for mayor slot are scheduled to be held on June 15.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated the nominees in on Twitter. “Congratulations to all PPP nominees for chairman, deputy chairman, mayor, deputy mayor and towns. The people have expressed faith in the PPP. Now let’s go win the next round and get going with what we do best, serving the people.

“A special thank you to Hyderabad and Karachi for trusting us for the first time. I have full faith that Mr [Kashif] Shoro and Mr Wahab will be the first but not the last PPP mayors of our two great cities,” he said.

“Congratulations to all PPP nominees for Chairman, dep chairman, mayor, dep mayor and towns. The people have expressed faith in the ppp. Now let’s go win the next round and get going with with what we do best, serving the people. A special thank you to Hyderabad & Karachi for trusting us for the first time. I have full faith that Mr. Shoro & Mr. Wahab will be the first but not the last PPP mayors of our two great cities” Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted.

Responding to Bilawal, Murtaza Wahab thanked the PPP leadership and pledged to deliver “to the best of my abilities”. “I have no words to express my gratitude to [PPP] Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari, [former] president Asif Ali Zardari, Adi Faryal Talpur sahiba and the entire leadership of the PPP for this honour of nominating me for the position of mayor of Karachi.

“I am a Karachiite — the city is in my veins and nothing would be of greater honour for me but to work for the betterment of our great city. I pledge to deliver to the best of my abilities and take the entire city forward, working with all stakeholders, political and administrative,” he tweeted.