KARACHI/HYDERABAD: According to unofficial results released on Monday, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in the lead as the results of Karachi's local body elections come in, with Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) following behind.

The opposition parties, Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, had accused the election's organisers of manipulating the results due to the delay in their publication despite the polls having closed at 5 p.m. on Sunday (JUI-F).

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asserted that the results were assembled transparently, while the PPP-led administration denied any role in the manipulation of the elections.

PPP has won 93 of the 235 union committees (UCs) up for election, followed by JI with 86, PTI with 40, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with seven, JUI-F and independent with three, and Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) with two.

The voting began at 8 a.m. on Sunday and finished at 5 p.m. that day, with reports of periodic conflicts but no results being announced, leading to allegations of cheating.

Many political parties had earlier complained and asked the ECP to lengthen the polling period as the process started late at some of the stations, which was allowed in some polling places. As hundreds of thousands of voters proceeded to the polls to elect their local representatives.

Analysts claimed that even if the election commission is in charge of the electoral process, if the PPP wins in Karachi because it is the current ruling party, it would raise concerns.

The PTI also experienced a significant loss in the local body elections in Karachi when Khurram Sher Zaman, the party's front-runner for the position of mayor, lost to Najmi Alam of the PPP in Saddar.

'Fudged' figures

JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman stated to Shahzeb Khanzada of Geo News that the results were "fudged" and a majority was changed into a minority.

"I implore the PPP and the election commission not to rig the results. Forms 11 and 12 were not delivered to us. PPP was only slightly ahead in 70-75 UCs while we were winning around 100 UCs, "added he.

Rehman continued by saying that after reviewing the findings, he called his party's meeting and asserted that the winner of the party had been put into second position.