On Monday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) representative and Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani revealed he had approached Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) members seeking support for the upcoming Karachi mayoral elections.
At a press conference held in the city, Ghani mentioned his ongoing interactions with PTI members and stated his hopes for the PTI union council chairperson to cast their vote in PPP’s favor. He emphasized that the choice remains theirs, and regardless, medical staff from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) will be on standby during the election.
Ghani noted that the opposition, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), is preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court, predicting they may find relief through Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial. It’s worth noting that JI recently challenged an amendment allowing unelected individuals to serve as mayors in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on June 7.
Murtaza Wahab, PPP’s candidate for mayor, has responded to JI’s criticism by challenging party leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman’s claims of being a “son of Karachi.” Wahab argued that he, Ghani, and Salman Abdullah Murad were all born in the city, unlike Rehman.
Emphasizing that the PPP will counter any allegations made by the JI through their actions and services, Wahab pledged his party’s commitment to serving for the next eight years.
In the previous week, Ghani had predicted that Rehman would secure no more than 160 votes from City Council members in the mayoral election. He stated that despite the JI and PTI alliance having 193 members in the forthcoming City Council, not more than 160 would vote for Rehman. Ghani remained confident that most of PTI’s newly-elected local government representatives in Karachi had already signaled their unwillingness to support the JI’s mayoral candidate.
