Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has claimed that the Jamat-e-Islami wants the Karachi mayor elections delayed as its leadership knows that PTI UC chairmen will not accept the party chairman’s decision to vote for the JI candidate.

“The JI is leveling baseless allegations against PPP as it could not secure enough seats to elect its city’s mayor,” he said at the Shaukat Piracha’s show Rubaroo on Sunday.

He was of the view that many PTI UC chairmen will not vote for JI’s Hafiz Naeemur Rehman despite PTI chief Imran Khan’s support for the JI candidate in the Karachi mayor election.

“At a time when PTI top leadership is leaving the party in flocks, the party’s UC chairmen in Karachi are also choosing to disassociate with the party’s decision,” Shah said, “knowing that it will not be able to secure the mayor seat without the PTI votes, JI now wants to delay the mayor election.”

According to Shah, the process for the election of the mayor will be completed by June 15.

Earlier on Sunday, JI’s Rehman said that the party had been asking for a direct election for the city mayor but the PPP was apparently not accepting their demand.

He said that prior to the local body polls, the law was that an elected UC chairman would be able to contest for the slot of the city mayor, due to which Najmi Alam from the PPP and himself from the JI contested the polls.

However, after the polls, he added that the PPP amended the law to install a jiyala other than an elected representative of the people. “Owing to the malicious nature and timing of the legislation, the JI was going to challenge the new amendment in a court of law,” he added.

At the prorgamme, MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar claimed that the PPP has no mandate in the city as they have always ignored the hardship faced by the citizens.

“The JI did not stand with MQM when it was demanding proper delimitation and census,” Sattar said, adding that now the party has locked horns with the PPP over the manner in which the mayor is to be elected.

“MQM is the true representative of the city. It is evident from the low voter turnout in the recent LG elections. None of the parties managed to secure more than five per cent votes. The combined secured votes of JI, PPP and PTI in the LG election are less than what MQM secured in the 2015 LG elections,” the MQM leader

He was of the view that the PPP will set a bad precedent by not accepting the JI mayor as it has the majority after the PTI chief’s endorsement for Rehman.