- MQM-P to contest by-polls on nine Karachi seats: Maqbool.
- Protests against LG polls to be staged at Press club chowk.
- MQM-P had boycotted the LG polls in Karachi, Hyderabad.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Pakistan has announced a sit-in at Press Club Chowk from February 12 against the local body elections.
Addressing the general workers meeting in Karachi, Convenor MQM-P Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that Pakistan is at a crucial point but there is no one to take decisions. He added that the economy will sink politics, “the time has come to fulfil the promise we made to our forefathers,” said the MQM-P leader.
Maqbool announced that his party would not only contest the by-polls in the nine Karachi seats but also win those seats. The seats were vacated after the National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf accepted the resignations of all PTI MNAs in three different episodes.
He said that they had “given up” the local body elections, and now they have to fight for their mandate. The MQM-P chief added that the results of the LG polls in Karachi showed who wants to win the polls at the expense of the people.
Khalid Maqbool announced a sit-in against the LG polls at Press Club Chowk on February 12 and said that they would shift their Bahadurabad centre to Press Club Chowk next Sunday.
He instructed the workers to prepare for the protests in the coming week, saying they would fight Karachi’s case from February 12.
LG polls
It is to be noted that the MQM-P boycotted the second phase of the local body elections in Sindh, expressing its reservations and concerns regarding delimitations, particularly in the two cities which are considered the MQM-P’s major vote banks.
The MQM-P leadership had rejoiced about the “low turnout” in polls, terming it “rigged” in the Karachi and Hyderabad divisions.
According to the results of the controversial polls, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led the charts with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) trailing behind.
According to the results, the PPP won 91 seats and JI secured 85 seats.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) acquired 42, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) seven, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) two, and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) one, according to the latest results. One seat was also secured by the independent candidate.
