KARACHI: The city council’s 300 members will elect Karachi’s new deputy mayor on Thursday.
The office of deputy mayor was vacated after the Election Commission disqualified Arshad Vohra in March.
A meeting to review the preparations for the election was held on Wednesday with Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shalwani in the chair.
The meeting was briefed that all arrangements for the polling have been finalised. The polling will continue from 9:00am till 5:00pm without any break, regional election commissioner Ali Asghar Sayal told the meeting.
The ECP had disqualified Arshad Vohra on a petition filed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) seeking to de-seat Vohra for switching loyalty to the Mustafa Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party.
Vohra was elected as chairman of Union Council-49 of Karachi’s central district in the local council elections.
The then MQM-P convener Farooq Sattar had gone to the electoral body seeking disqualification of Vohra under the Local Government Act 2013.
He contended that Vohra elected as deputy mayor on MQM-P ticket and he did not relinquish his office after changing loyalty to PSP, which is a sheer violation of the constitutional laws. He pleaded the ECP to issue a notification of Vohra’s disqualification.
