Karachi to elect its new deputy mayor tomorrow

City Council is all set to elect its deputy mayor — one of the key positions in the local bodies setup —tomorrow (Thursday) as arrangements have been made at old KMC building, the Civic body's head office.   

As many as, 300 elected representatives — 227 men and 73 women — of the Karachi city council would exercise right of vote for deputy mayor by-polls from 9am to 5pm without any break.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P)’s Syed Arshad Hussain and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s Karamullah Waqasi will be contesting for vacant seat of deputy mayor.

Arshad Vohra was the deputy mayor but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified him on March 13 as he left his party, the MQM-P and joined the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led by former mayor Mustafa Kamal.

Report suggests that a presiding officer, two assistant presiding officers and two polling officers will oversee the process of the election. Two polling booths (one for men and another for women) have also been set up.

Furthermore, Arshad is believed to have an edge over his opponent as the city council is dominated by MQM-P.

Moreover, work at the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) head office will be suspended on Thursday due to the elections for the city’s deputy mayor.