LAHORE: Colonel (retd) Mubashir Javed of the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) was on Saturday elected unopposed as the mayor of Lahore.
The elections for the mayor were supposed to be held on December 22. However, the nomination papers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate Afeef Siddiqui were rejected after which Mubashir Javed was declared the winner.
Prime Minister and PML-N president Nawaz Sharif had recently interviewed Javed, who was elected on a reserved seat for technocrats in the local bodies elections.
Javed had joined the PML-N in 2001 after his retirement and is said to be a close aide of Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq. Apart from being the PML-N administrator in Lahore, he is also a member of the evacuee property trust.
Javed is said to be have established good terms with the leadership of the PML-N and emerged as the strongest candidate for the mayor of Lahore.
The PML-N had earlier considered Khawaja Ahmad Hassan for the mayoral post but he dropped out due to heavy responsibilities and was facing various court cases.
PML-N candidates Sardar Naseem, Asad Baloch and Tauheed Akhtar were elected unopposed as mayors in Rawalpindi, Sahiwal and Sialkot respectively.
In Gujranwala, PML-N candidate Sheikh Sarwat Akram was elected mayor and Salman Khalid Butt as deputy mayor unopposed. The ruling party seems to be on landslide across the province.
Mubashir Javed, while speaking to ARY News, said that his foremost responsibility will be to serve the people of Lahore, and improve water supply and provide a cleanliness project to the municipality.
He also visited the shrine of Sufi saint Data Ganj Baksh after his election to pay his respects. However, he will not have a smooth ride as a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court over his eligibility to be elected as mayor of Lahore.
