KARACHI, Nov 13: The Pakistan People’s Party has announced that it would field candidates for the Dec 10 by-election in three provincial constituencies of Karachi. PPP is the second major opposition party after the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) which has decided to field its candidates in the by-poll. One of the seats for which the by-election is being held has been vacated by Syed Mustafa Kamal who has now become Nazim of Karachi district while the second seat has fallen vacant due to the election of Kanwar Naveed Jamil as Nazim of Hyderabad district in the recently held local government election. The third seat has fallen vacant due to the death of Ali Bin Hamid.
PPP city chief Rashid Rabbani told Dawn that the local chapter of his party was holding an important meeting on Monday to finalize the names of candidates for the by-poll.
In reply to a question, he said that in the previous general election, the PPP’s candidate for PS-106 seat was Sardar Mohammad Lashari who had secured 1,670 votes whereas for PS-117 seat, the PPP candidate was Dr Farooq Fazlani who had bagged 4,385 votes. He recalled that for the PS-120 seat, the PPP candidate was Waseem Alvi who had secured 2,833 votes.
Mr Rabbani said that before going for fielding candidates, PPP would take the ARD into confidence.
The MMA’s city chief Hafiz Mohammad Taqi recalled that in the last general election, MMA candidates in the field were Dr Abbas Panjwani from PS-117, Mr Bhatti from PS-120 and Islamuddin Ayubi from PS-106. He said that the same candidate were likely to be fielded again but subject to an understanding with other opposition parties.
He claimed that the ruling coalition had strengthened its position through the rigged local government election, but the MMA was determined to exercise its right to contest.
The concerned returning officers would receive nomination papers on Monday and Tuesday (Nov 14 and 15). Scrutiny of the nomination papers would be held on Nov 16 and 17 and appeals against acceptance or rejection of nomination papers could be filed on Nov 19. The appeals would be disposed of by Nov 22. The date for withdrawal of candidature has been fixed as Nov 24 and the final list of candidate would be published on Nov 25.
