KARACHI: All set for by-election on two PA seats today
By Habib Khan Ghori
KARACHI, Dec 9: All arrangements have been made for the by-elections in two Sindh Assembly constituencies, PS-117 Karachi-XXIX and PS-120 Karachi-XXXII, as well as one National Assembly constituency, NA-210 Jacobabad-III, where polling is to be held on Saturday.
Provincial Election Commissioner Ahmad Ali Halepota told Dawn on Friday that the arrangements had been completed in all respects for free, fair and peaceful election.
The polling will start at 8am and continue without any break till 5pm.
The PS-117 seat had been vacated by Syed Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement following his election as city nazim of Karachi in the recently-held local government election while PS-120 had fallen vacant due to the death of Ali Bin Hamid Zaidi of MQM. The NA-210 had been vacated by Salim Jan Mazari after his election as nazim of Kashmor district.
Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who is in Karachi, will be supervising the polling for which he is likely to visit different polling stations, according to Mr Halepota.
In reply to a question, he said that Justice Dogar had held a meeting with senior officials of the Sindh government last week to discuss and finalize the arrangements for ensuring peaceful polling.
Since both the provincial assembly constituencies fall in the formerly District East, the District and Sessions Judge, Zafar Ahmad Sherwani, will act as the Returning Officer to supervise the entire election process.
The contestants for the two seats have come from two major political forces — the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD). The third potential force, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, has decided to boycott the by-election, citing its experience in the May 2004 by-election and the previous local government elections.
Although, there are three candidates in the run for the two seats, the major rivals are those of the MQM and ARD.
In PS-117, the contestants are Dr Saghir Ahmad of MQM with election symbol ‘kite’ and Pir Abdul Rashid of ARD with election symbol ‘arrow’. The independent candidate is Habibur Rashid with election symbol ‘car’.
The candidates for PS-120 are Nishat Mohammad Zia Qadri of MQM with ‘kite’ being his election symbol, and Ahmad Waseem Alvi of the ARD with the symbol of ‘arrow’. The third candidate, Mohammad Rashid, is an independent whose election symbol is ‘car’.
The election commission had initially announced by-election on three Sindh Assembly seats which included PS-106. However, Khalid Bin Wilayat of the MQM returned unopposed to this seat as his rivals withdrew from the contest on the last day for the withdrawal of candidature. Before their withdrawal, nomination papers of the ARD candidate were rejected during scrutiny on technical grounds. The PS-106 had fallen vacant due to the election of MQM’s Kanwar Naveed Jamil as nazim of Hyderabad.
Analysts believe that in both the constituencies where by-election is being held on Saturday, MQM candidates enjoy an edge over their rival candidates. The belief is substantiated by the fact that the MQM legislators occupying these seats had defeated their close rivals in the 2002 election by a wide margin.
However, ARD leader Rashid Rabbani has expressed his optimism that the alliance could win both the seats if free and fair election was held and the administration did not take side. He said he was quite impressed by the well attended public meetings of the ARD candidates.
Following is the jurisdiction of the two constituencies:
PS-117: PIB Colony, Amynabad, Clayton Quarters, Jamshed Quarters, Jehangir Road, Martin Quarters, Usmania Mohajir Colony, Pakistan Quarters, Islam Nagar, People’s Colony, Mohammadi Colony, Mustafa Colony, Patel Para, Garden East, Soldier Bazaar, Parsi Colony, Catholic Colony, etc.
PS-120: Natha Khan Goth, Shah Faisal Colony, Pak Sadat Colony, Massan Ghat, New Iqbal Colony, Reta Plot, Green Town, Asifabad, Morio Khan Goth, Golden Town, Punjab Colony, etc.
KARACHI, Dec 9: All arrangements have been made for the by-elections in two Sindh Assembly constituencies, PS-117 Karachi-XXIX and PS-120 Karachi-XXXII, as well as one National Assembly constituency, NA-210 Jacobabad-III, where polling is to be held on Saturday.
