KARACHI: The by-elections are all set to be held for NA-243 [East-II] Karachi and PS-87 [Malir] today. While the NA-243 seat had been left vacant after Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s resignation, elections on the latter were postponed due to the death of Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) candidate Mohammad Sharif.
The now premier had bagged around 91,373 votes as compared to Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Ali Raza Abidi who secured 24,000 votes in the recently held General Elections 2018. However, MQM had later cried foul and levelled allegations of rigging on the winning party.
NA-243 has now been allotted to a social activist of Fix-It, Alamgir Khan who has a huge following owing to his campaigns on multiple civic issues.
Other candidates who will be contesting the by-election include MQM’s Aamir Waliuddin Chisti, Pak Sarzameen Party’s (PSP) Syed Asif Hasnain, Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Hakim Ali and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Syed Nawazul Huda.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) while withdrawing its candidate Sharfat Ali, has decided to root for PPP’s candidates.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a total of 216 polling stations will be set up in the constituency that has 402,731 registered votes. These include 211,510 male and 191,221 female voters. The total number of election booths in this constituency is 864.
In terms of areas, NA-243 encompasses Dohraji, Pir Ilahi Bux Colony, PECHS Block II, Bahadurabad, and parts of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar as well as, a few adjoining areas.
A rather tough competition is expected between PTI and MQM while it is pertinent to mention here that PSP, a party that has not won a single seat in the last general elections, is claiming to be a strong contender for this seat.
PS-87
Sajid Jokhio, an experienced PPP candidate who is set to contest from this area for the fourth time on a provincial assembly, has claimed a stronghold on this seat whereas, the PTI is fielding its candidate Sardar Qadir Bux Gabool against Jokhio. Interestingly, Bux was earlier affiliated with the PPP himself.
Furthermore, TLP’s Khalid Brohi, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal’s (MMA) Qari Hamdullah Haqqani, Sindh United Party’s (SUP) Javed Shar and Wali Jan of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) are also contesting from this constituency.
According to the ECP, the total population of this constituency stands at 387,000, out of which 146,142 people are eligible to vote. The actual contest will, however, be between the PPP and PTI without a doubt.
PPP- PML-N alliance
Meanwhile, PPP and PML-N leaders while announcing on Friday that the PML-N would not contest and support PPP’s candidates in Sindh instead said, “PPP will support PML-N in Punjab and we have withdrawn our candidate in support of PPP in Sindh”.
