Jamaat-e-Islami has challenged a law that allows for unelected candidates to contest the seats of mayor and chairman in the Sindh High Court.

In the petition, JI has argued that the latest local bodies election in the province was held under the 2013 local bodies law and candidates who were successful in the election took oath under the same law.

The petition says that a new law was enacted to enable people who did not contest the election to run for the post of mayor and chairman. JI has argued that the top posts should only be open to people who were successful in the local bodies election.

JI’s mayor candidate Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said that the new law was passed after the local bodies election had already taken place. He said that the Peoples Party has passed a law of its choosing which was against the constitution and a blow to transparency.

Rehman said that he had become JI’s candidate for amyor only after he had been successful in winning the election. He said that the PPP wanted to ‘impose’ a non-elected person on the city.

He also said that the law’s ill intentions could be seen from the fact that the law was declared effective since 2021, even though it was passed in 2023.

Rehman said that the party with the biggest numbers should be able to govern, and the biggest numbers in this election belonged to the JI. The PPP wants to rob the people’s mandate, he said.

The PPP has nominated Murtaza Wahab as its candidate for Karachi’s mayor.