HYDERABAD: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former Sindh finance minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Sunday evening inched towards victory, apparently uncontested, in the upcoming Jamshoro PS-73 by-poll after his rival, Roshan Ali Buriro of the Sindh United Party (SUP), withdrew from the race under his party’s directive.

Shah, son of former Sindh chief minister Abdullah Shah, met SUP president Jalal Mehmood Shah in Jamshoro after which it was announced that Buriro, SUP’s vice president, would withdraw from the race, in his favour.

Buriro’s appeal before a two judge Election Tribunal, challenging Shah’s nomination form acceptance, is to be heard here on Monday.

Buriro had challenged Shah’s nomination form on the grounds of Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

It is likely that he would not press his election appeal now. He filed the appeal on Saturday before a two member election tribunal, comprising two sitting judges of the Sindh High Court.

“It’s a by-poll which is not that big an affair. So we decided to talk-talk and fight-fight simultaneously,” Jalal Shah told Dawn.com over the phone after his meeting.

He said that he discussed some issues of Jamshoro district.

“The announcement is not made all of a sudden. Meetings have been under way and he [Shah] has been approaching us for quite some time so we eventually decided to withdraw,” he said.

Buriro agreed with his party president’s decision.

“Since the party president wants me to withdraw I abide by it,” he said.

Earlier, Shah’s other rival and potential candidate, Habibullah Rind submitted his withdrawal before the Returning Officer (RO) on Saturday under what he said was family pressure.

“My uncle Ayub Rind and my elder brother Abdul Majeed Rind want me to withdraw,” he said.

Rind enjoyed support from Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi, a former Sindh chief minister and politically influential figure from the area.

Jatoi, formerly of PML-N, has recently revived his Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) after being disillusioned with the PML-N leadership.

He had merged AIP in PML-N. Jatoi had also backed Rind in the Feb 18, 2013 by-poll who ended up as a runner-up in the election, bagging a considerable number of votes.

“But my decision did not displease Jatoi,” Rind added.

Other candidates, Atta Mohammad and Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi have already withdrawn.

Eight candidates filed their papers. Of them Qasim Bozdar and Nisar Lund have challenged rejection of their forms by the RO. Their appeals would be heard on Monday.

The RO rejected Bozdar’s nomination for non-payment of land revenue charges while Nisar’s candidature was not accepted as his seconder and proposer did not belong to PS-73 as per law.

The election will be held on November 29 and will be the fourth straight election of Shah from the constituency, created in 2002.

The PPP stalwart has been reported in the media as the next chief minister Sindh, something which Shah has denied.