HYDERABAD: The split in the vote bank of religious parties in Hyderabad is expected to pave the way for Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s comeback in the upcoming elections, local media reports have informed.
Since its inception, the party has won representation from the areas dominated by the Urdu-speaking community, beginning from 1988 general elections.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) is the only political force which managed to challenge the perception of the MQM’s invincibility in Hyderabad city. In the 2002 elections, two of the MMA candidates from the city made it to the National and Sindh assemblies. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf appeared strong in the 2013 elections, however, it failed to get considerable votes in 2013. The response of Hyderabad’s voters to the Pak Sarzameen Party has yet to be seen.
The MMA has been forged once again before the 2018 elections. However, the situation is not the same as it was in 2002 as there are other religious parties as well in the fray due to which the religious parties’ alliance does not seem a formidable force. Unity in the politico-religious parties is conspicuously missing in the ongoing campaign in Hyderabad as the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Pakistan-Noorani (JUP-N), Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST), Milli Muslim League (MML) and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) are contesting the elections alongside the MMA through their own platforms.
Although the JUP-N and MML have made seat adjustments, they only involve two NA constituencies where central leaders of the two parties are in the run. JUP-N head Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, who was elected an MNA from former NA-220, current NA-227, on the ticket of MMA in 2002, is running from the same constituency. A central leader of the MML, Faisal Nadeem, is contesting the elections from NA-226, comprising the Latifabad area of Hyderabad. The MML has been registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan as Allah-o-Akbar Tehreek. The PST is also supporting Zubair in NA-227.
No other seat adjustment has been made by religious parties in Hyderabad and, hence, they are expected to consume each other’s votes.
The JUP-N has also managed to get the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) support for NA-227. It is supporting the PPP in two City taluka-based provincial constituencies, PS-66 and PS-67, and the MML in Latifabad-based PS-64. Both the JUP-N and MML are vying for PS-65 Latifabad.
The MMA and TLP have fielded candidates on all the six seats in City and Latifabad.
Though there seems to be a tacit acknowledgment of the harmful impact of the vote bank’s split, leaders of all the religious parties have been publicly denying the fact.
