Claim: Imran Ismail of PTI shared a tweet claiming that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has won the local body election in Karachi.
Fact: PTI had not won the local body election in Karachi.
On 15 January 2023, former governor of Sindh and PTI politician Imran Ismail published a tweet claiming that PTI had won the election in Karachi. His tweet said: “پی ٹی آئی الیکشن جیت گئی- ہمارے میئر کا اعلان عمران خان کریں گے- میں اللہ اور کراچی کے لوگوں کا شکر گزار ہوں۔ انشاء اللہ ہم کراچی کو جدید شہر میں تبدیل کریں گے۔” [Translation: PTI won the election – Imran Khan will announce our mayor – I am grateful to Allah and the people of Karachi. God willing, we will transform Karachi into a modern city.]
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found that this tweet was misleading. In light of the official result of the local government election, it is clear that Jamat-i-Islami (JI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have managed to win more seats than PTI in Karachi.
The voting process began at 8 am on Sunday, 15 January 2023. According to the official results announced by the Election Commission Pakistan (ECP)’s website, PPP won 91 seats, JI won 85 seats, and in 3rd position, PTI won 42 seats. Both PPP and JI have won more seats than PTI so it is most likely that Karachi’s mayor would be elected from one of these two parties.
An image of the official ECP election result – sourced from https://www.geo.tv/latest/466998-ecp-announces-latest-results-of-sindh-lg-polls
Hence, Imran Ismail’s premature announcement of victory was false.
Virality
Imran Ismail’s tweet was viewed 1.2 million times and received over 39,616 interactions on Twitter.
Conclusion: Imran Ismail of PTI prematurely tweeted that PTI had won the local body election in Karachi.