Imran Khan to contest election from Karachi's NA-243 constituency

E-Paper | April 28, 2026

Setting his sights on Karachi, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Thursday submitted his nomination papers for the upcoming polls from the NA-243 constituency.

PTI leader Asad Umar said that Khan would contest the elections from four or five different constituencies scattered across the country.

In the 2013 elections, Khan had contested from NA-1 (Peshawar - II), NA- 56 (Rawalpindi – VII), NA-71 (Mianwali - I), NA-126 (Lahore - IX).

In the run up to the 2018 polls, Karachi appears to have emerged as a flashpoint for major political players, with PPP heavyweights Bilawal Bhutto, Aseefa Bhutto and Asif Zardari contesting from there, as well as prominent human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir, who will contest as an independent candidate.

Last month, Khan had announced a wide-ranging 10-point Karachi-specific agenda for the upcoming polls, which touched upon power, hospitals, education, the police force and other areas.

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

ELECTIONS 2018

Pakistan

Bahadurabad rendezvous: Shahbaz meets MQM-P leaders in Karachi

Imran Khan presents his 10-point agenda for Karachi

Number of registered voters in 2018 up 23pc from last general elections

Aman

Jun 07, 2018 03:58pm

Inshallah he will win. He is a very good man.

Recommend 0

GHALIBJEEE

Jun 07, 2018 04:12pm

I don't understand why does ECP allow to Contestant to to contest from Multiple constituencies after election they win from multiple seat and vacate some seats the re-election is an additional burden on the tax payers. Either it should not be allowed or if allowed the Expense of Re-Polling should be on the person who vacates that seat.

Recommend 0

Murtaza

Jun 07, 2018 04:24pm

Best of luck IK. The entire nation will vote for you iA.

Recommend 0

Sab Se Pehle Pakistan

Jun 07, 2018 04:28pm

Due to unconstitutional ban and General selections I mean elections boycott of the real stakeholders of Urban Sindh. It is an open field for all. The census and delimitations in Urban Sindh were rigged by PPP's government. PTI should first plan to get that corrected. Going in to elections with incorrect census and delimitations done under Corruption Mafias PML-N and PPP will be an endorsement of this rigged electoral system. All the best to Imran Khan in his fight against Corruption.

Recommend 0

Syed Ghazanfar Abbas

Jun 07, 2018 04:30pm

Waste of votes, voters time, and resources. One or max 2 locations should be enough.

Recommend 0

harris

Jun 07, 2018 05:06pm

nice

Recommend 0

Masood

Jun 07, 2018 05:24pm

Welcome to Karachi election arena. Best of luck to an emerging true national leader.

Recommend 0

What about me

Jun 07, 2018 06:10pm

Only in Pakistan people are allowed to stand in election from a place which has never been place of their residence.

Recommend 0

AMK

Jun 07, 2018 06:14pm

You will get result that u deserve from Karachi based on your past interest and actions in Karachi specific issues!

Recommend 0

Life

Jun 07, 2018 06:27pm

What a pious man to vote for.

Recommend 0

SkyHawk

Jun 07, 2018 06:28pm

IK is the next PM. He will win with great margin inshaAllah.

Recommend 0

Wasim

Jun 07, 2018 06:48pm

A person should be allowed to contest for only one seat and that should be from his residential area.

Recommend 0

Whats In a Name

Jun 07, 2018 07:00pm

Candidates should not be allowed to contest from multiple constituencies. It just goes against democracy to allow random people to contest from areas they clearly do not represent. How exactly does Imran Khan represent NA- 243? He doesn't even live in Karachi! Talking about Karachi constituencies, can someone please enlighten us what Dr. Alvi did for NA-250? What a disappointment PTI has been. When will Pakistani politics move away from personalities and focus on issues which continue to persist.

Recommend 0

Chaman Bahar

Jun 07, 2018 07:14pm

Feeling insecure ?

Recommend 0

MONIER

Jun 07, 2018 07:39pm

Lets give Imran Khan a chance to lead the country after a failure of PPP and PML-N family run reigns and political and economic fiascos.

Recommend 0

Azam Qadeer

Jun 07, 2018 08:02pm

Recommend 0

Abdulrazzak

Jun 07, 2018 08:08pm

@GHALIBJEEE I totally agree. Nowhere in the western democracy a candidate is allowed to contest from more than one constituency. Those who contest from multiple constituency are unsure if they would win from one constituency and such person should not be head of a party.

Recommend 0

Orakzai.

Jun 07, 2018 08:22pm

Dated.May.07.2018 I congratulate khan in advance, he is for sure the next PM of Pakistan. Dawnnews should note and keep the record of my well wishes for khan.

Recommend 0

Younis

Jun 07, 2018 08:31pm

Why is he contesting in Karachi if he is not from Karachi and does not live in Karachi?

Recommend 0

AQib

Jun 07, 2018 08:58pm

@GHALIBJEEE Vacating the seat is by law not by choice. I agree with your first point that they should either not allow to contest on multiple seats or should let the candidate keep the seats with in party

Recommend 0

Wild Guy99

Jun 07, 2018 09:46pm

Welome to Karachi .

Recommend 0

Engr. Kalim v vvvvvvv

Jun 07, 2018 10:20pm

People should vote for IK,he is only the last hope.

Recommend 0

Zia ur Rehman

Jun 08, 2018 12:28am

He is a simple, straightforward and good hearted man

Recommend 0

Zia ur Rehman

Jun 08, 2018 12:33am

He made a mistake by marrying Rehaam but now retrospectively thinking he made a very wise decision to part ways with her earlier than it would have become too late. Although his decision of separation was not admired at that time. He should take credit of a very timely decision after making a judgemental error

Recommend 0

UMER

Jun 08, 2018 06:34am

@AQib No, simply handing over a won seat to a party member is not democratic. For example a dictator can contest on all NA seats and then appoint preferred people, which is antithesis of selection by public at large (i.e. democracy). A person should only be allowed to contest on one seat.

Recommend 0

Murtaza

Jun 09, 2018 02:46am

@Orakzai. inshAllah

Recommend 0

Branded Content

NexGen Auto (Nishat Group) to Introduce iCAUR in Pakistan

As one of Pakistan’s leading business groups, Nishat Group operates across key sectors including textiles, cement, banking, insurance, power and agriculture.

NTL and Unikrew Solutions establish additional strategic understanding for potential transformation opportunities

Collaboration brings together complementary strengths to jointly pursue high-impact opportunities in Pakistan and international markets.

Indus Cloud signs strategic partnership agreement with PTCL to deliver cloud excellence

The partnership marks a significant step in Indus Cloud’s and PTCL’s joint efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s cloud and data centre infrastructure and expand access to enterprise-grade digital services in the country.