From Zeeshan Mirza
KARACHI: PPP’s Murtaza Wahab took oath as the Karachi mayor at a ceremony held at the city’s Polo Ground on Monday.
According to updates on the PPP’s Twitter, party’s Salman Murad was also sworn in as the city’s deputy mayor at the ceremony.
Sindh Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chauhan administered the oath to Wahab and Salman while Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Governor Kamran Tessori and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were also present on the occasion.
After the ceremony, Wahab tweeted that he was honoured to have taken oath as the Karachi mayor and grateful to the PPP leadership for showing trust in him.
“Grateful [for] the trust shown by Chairman Bilawal, President Zardari and Mrs Talpur on my capacity to lead to our great city. God willing, all PPP members, Salman and I will work together to serve the people of our city,” he pledged.
Both Wahab and Salam won the elections for their respective posts on June 15 in a contest that was marred by clashes and controversy, with the Jamaat-i-Islami — the PPP’s sole contender for the mayor’s seat — alleging that the ruling party in Sindh use force to ensure its victory. Prior to the mayor’s election, the PPP had formed an alliance with the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, taking their combined strength to 173, while the JI had the support of 61 PTI members, taking the expected number of votes for its candidate, JI Karachi chief Naeemur Rehman, to 192.
While Wahab secured all 173 expected votes, Rehman only managed to get 160 after 30 union council members abstained from the polling process. However, the JI has alleged that the provincial government had coerced the PTI members and rejected the polls.
The party also observed ‘Black Day’ on June 17 and held protests across the country over the election results, and it has now announced a protest outside the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) office in Islamabad.
