PPP emerged as the largest party in Karachi LG elections

 PPP has won 80, JI 49, PTI 29 and PML-N 06 UCs so far while the results of  65 UCs are still awaited

According to the official results of Karachi local government elections released by the Election commission of Pakistan so far, PPP has emerged as the largest party in Karachi division. PPP has won 80 out of 170 Union Committees (UCs) announced so far. 

Jamaat-I-Islami (JI) is trailing behind with 49 UCs, PTI 29, PML-N 06, JUI-F 02, independents 02, TLP 01 and MQM-P 01. The results of 65 UCs are still awaited. The elections were held on 235 out of 246 total UCs. The elections were postponed in 11 UCs due to the death of contesting candidates.

It seems that no party will be able to win 118 UCs needed to get simple majority in the house. 

It is the first time in the history of Karachi that PPP has emerged as the largest party. JI was hoping to win outright majority but still trailing behind. PTI was claiming that it is the most popular party in Karachi but could manage to win just 29 UCs so far. PTI suffered heavy defeat in Karachi. This result is a big political setback for PTI. PTI emerged as the largest party in Karachi in 2018 general elections. PTI won 14 National Assembly seats from Karachi.   

                                                                    Khalid Bhatti