HYDERABAD, Sept 26: Election campaigns have not gathered momentum here despite the fact that only 12 days are left to polling date.

The campaigns for the national and provincial assemblies seats of Hyderabad are restricted only to hoisting of party flags, exhibition of symbols and wall chalking.

The city wears a deserted look during the daytime and it is only during the late hours in the evening that some candidates can be seen speaking at small gatherings.

The lack of fervour in the election activities is evident from the fact that except for the two “Muttahidas” — Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal — no major party, including the PPP, PML (N), PML (Q) and the National Alliance, has invited its central leader here during the last two weeks.

Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, the deputy chief of the Jamaat-i-Islami, who visited Hyderabad last week, had also admitted that the election activities had failed to gain momentum due to uncertain conditions.

One reason for it may be the entry of new faces, some of them little known in their constituents, in the election arena.

Even the MQM has fielded new candidates, except Aftab Ahmad Shaikh, the former mayor of Hyderabad,.

To contest for NA-219, Hyderabad-II, the MQM has selected Prof Khalid Wahab, a retired director of colleges, who is not only a new entrant in politics but also a new entrant in the MQM. Prof Wahab is held in high esteem in literary circles but politics is not his forte.

Twelve other candidates are also in the field from this Latifabad constituency, which has always remained the stronghold of the Muttahida as since 1988 its candidates always emerged victorious from this seat.

Quite a few other candidates are also contesting from NA-219. They include Dr Saleem Haider, the chief of the Mohajir Ittehad Tehrik, Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad of the PPP, Shabbir Ahmad of PML (N) and Mushtaq Ahmad Khan of the MMA.

Dr Haider is trying to use the “Mohajir card” and he has raised a very sensitive issue of the carnage of Sept 30, 1988, in which over 250 people were shot dead in Hyderabad. He has given a call to observe Sept 30 as a day of mourning.

However political pundits are of the opinion that although Dr Haider has touched a very tender spot, it will not change the course of the election.

As far as the PPP candidate, Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad, is concerned, unfortunately for him, his party does not have much of a vote bank in this constituency.

The MMA candidate, Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, does not appear to be serious to contest from this seat as he is concentrating on the Provincial Assembly seat PS-48.

The PML (N) candidate, Shabbir Ahmad, right from the beginning, has been a diehard supporter of Nawaz Sharif. In his own locality, he is popular enough to get a few thousand votes of the Punjabi community and some other communities.

The Muhajir Qaumi Movement has also put up a candidate in the person of Sohail Akhtar Siddiqui, who is little known in the constituency as he belongs to Karachi.

The other candidates contesting from this constituency are Ahmad Ali Naghar of the Tehrik-i-Istaqlal, Syed Sarfraz Ali of the PML (F), Syed Mushtaq Ali Qadri of the PAT, Kaleem Khan, Mohammad Iqbal Shaikh of the PML (Q) and Mohammad Shamim Shaikh.

JSM-J: The chairman, Jeay Sindh Mahaz (J), Abdul Khaliq Junejo, has said the military government has made a joke of the election process by taking unconstitutional, undemocratic and unilateral decisions with the objective to remain in power.