KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s candidate Kanwar Naveed Jamil emerged victorious on Thursday in the most talked-about by-election in the city’s NA-246 constituency.

The result was not a surprise but the margin of Kanwar Jamil’s victory was. He defeated Imran Ismail of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Rashid Naseem of Jamaat-i-Islami.

According to unofficial results, Mr Jamil secured over 93,000 votes. His rivals Imran Ismail and Rashid Naseem bagged over 20,000 and about 9,000 votes, respectively. Of the total 357,801 voters in the constituency, over 34 per cent exercised their right to vote.

The polling was largely peaceful, except a few minor complaints which were addressed on the spot.

Director General of Rangers Sindh Maj Gen Bilal Akbar and Inspector General of Police Ghulam Haider Jamali separately visited different polling stations to monitor arrangements.

They met presiding officers at the polling stations and the district returning officer (DRO) and the returning officer (RO) at the DC Office.

Sindh Election Commissioner Tanveer Zalki and Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Siddiqui, along with the DRO and RO, also visited different polling stations.

All the polling stations, manned by Rangers and police, had been declared sensitive. With passions running high during the electioneering, strict security measures taken by Rangers and police ensured peaceful polling.

Addressing a press conference near their camp office in Karimabad, PTI leaders Dr Arif Alvi and Ali Zaidi expressed satisfaction over security arrangements made for the by-election.

Dr Alvi opposed MQM leader Farooq Sattar’s demand for increasing the polling time by three hours because of the slow pace of polling and said the polling had started on time.

He said that if the PTI secured more than 30,000 votes and the MQM less than 100,000, it would be PTI’s victory.

Mr Zaidi said his party had expressed reservations over the attitude of the presiding officers and their arrest for casting bogus votes proved that the party’s contention was right all along.

Dr Alvi said the arrested presiding officers should be sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison.

Farooq Sattar alleged at a press conference that hurdles had been created to reduce MQM’s victory margin and said the polling process should be expedited because the turnout was ‘phenomenal’. He called for extending the polling time by at least three hours so that people could easily cast their votes. He also asked for deputing female police constables in women polling stations.

The election code of conduct should be followed, not only by the contestants but also by the management, especially Rangers personnel deployed in polling stations.

He praised the people of the constituency for coming out of their homes and making the electoral process successful and said their support for the MQM was beyond doubt now.

Jamaat-i-Islami leader Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman dismissed the mandate claimed by the MQM as fake and said it was a result of what he called forged voters’ list and bias of polling staff.

Addressing a press conference at JI’s central election camp at Masjid-i-Quba in Gulberg, he said the arrest of presiding officers had proved that the polling staff consisted of MQM activists working in government departments like KPT, NBP and Water Board.

He claimed that his party had lodged a number of complaints about rigging with the Election Commission, but the latter did not take any action. The JI leader said his party would continue to denounce ‘rigged elections’ and biased attitude of the ECP and try to bring about genuine changes in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2015

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