KARACHI – Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui, leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), was sworn in as Karachi mayor on Monday.
He defeated Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman in a controversial election for the Karachi mayor’s office last week.
Sindh Election Commissioner Ejaz Anwar Chohan took oath from Murtaza Wahab.
Salman Abdullah took oath as deputy mayor of Karachi.
On June 15, protests erupted in Karachi after PPP candidate Siddiqui beat Rehman in the Karachi mayoral elections.
The PPP stalwart secured 173 votes whereas the JI leader managed to get 160 votes despite assurance of support from the PTI.
Videoes showed activists of both political parties pelting each other with stones and smashing windscreens of vehicles parked outside the Arts Council where elections for the mayor’s office were held.
As situation turned violent, police and Rangers intervened and started baton-charging the political workers in order to disperse them. Police have arrested nearly two dozen people for their involvement in violence.
Clashes erupted in Karachi as PPP’s Murtaza Wahab wins Karachi mayor election
