National News

ISLAMABAD:(APP): The vote to elect federal capital Islamabad’s first-ever mayor and three deputy mayors commenced Monday morning,
Ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and rival Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf contesting for the top municipal seats of Islamabad.
Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation has 77 members including 50 union council chairmen and 27 members elected on reserved seats.
The election being held at the Convention Centre Islamabad, was started at 9:00 am and will be concluded at 5:00 pm. The councillors using their right to vote through secret ballot
PML-N has fielded Sheikh Ansar Aziz, a close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, as its candidate for the office of mayor contesting the election against PTI’s Raja Khurram Nawaz.
The ruling party has nominated Chaudhry Riffat Javed, Syed Zeeshan Ali Naqvi and Muhammad Azam Khan as their candidates for three deputy mayoral slots. The PTI has nominated Fouzia Arshad, Raja Zulqarnain and Ali Nawaz Awan as their candidates for Islamabad’s deputy mayors.
PML-N is well placed to sweep the elections as it holds 50 of the total 77 votes of the council members of the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC).
PML-N and PTI appeared to be putting up a tight race during the first round of the local government (LG) elections in December. However, PML-N came out far ahead of its competitors when it won over nearly all the independents, and now has 32 UC chairmen, followed by PTI’s 18.