ISLAMABAD: Over two-thirds of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) representatives from Sindh in the previous National Assembly have managed to get party tickets for the July 25 general elections, a careful analysis of the list of finalised candidates showed on Monday.

The PPP has also fielded nine of those candidates who had lost the 2013 general elections to their rivals, some with a very big margin, according to the list issued by the party in the late hours of Sunday.

Of the 34 PPP representatives from Sindh in the previous National Assembly, 23 candidates (around 68 per cent) have been awarded party tickets again.

Prominent among those who have not received or denied the PPP tickets for the National Assembly seats this time are former NA speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza from Badin; Pir Shafqat Jillani from Mirpurkhas; Asghar Ali Shah from Naushahro Feroze; Abdus Sattar Bachani from Hyderabad; Makhdoom Saeeduz Zaman from Hyderabad; Amir Ali Shah Jamote from Hyderabad; Sardar Kamal Chang from Badin; Shahjehan Baloch from Karachi and the Mahar brothers — former Sindh chief minister Sardar Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar and Ali Gohar Khan Mahar — from Ghotki.

Sources said the PPP leadership was unhappy with the Mahar brothers’ act of not supporting the party in the recently held by-elections in Ghotki. They said the Mahar family was facing a political division as two of their family members had got the PPP tickets on the provincial assembly seats from Ghotki and Sukkur. Despite having differences with the Mahar brothers, the PPP made an attempt to woo them, but they refused to reconcile and later joined the GDA.

Dr Fehmida recently announced her decision to join the anti-PPP league — Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) — with her husband and former provincial home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza. While her husband had been openly opposing PPP policies and also launched personal attacks on PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Dr Fehmida continued to sit with other PPP lawmakers in the National Assembly till the completion of the five-year term of the previous assembly on May 31.

A senior PPP leader from Sindh, who also remained involved in the ticket award process, when contacted, said that some of the ex-MNAs had themselves refused to get the party tickets as they wanted to accommodate their other family members whereas some had been denied the tickets due to local political issues.

He claimed Pir Shafqat Jillani, Makhdoom Saeeduz Zaman, Amir Ali Shah Jamote and Abdus Sattar Bachani had expressed their desire to give an opportunity to their other family members to contest the elections in their place. He said the party had awarded a ticket to former MNA Bachani’s son Zulfiqar Bachani and Amir Shah Jamote’s son Tariq Shah for the national assembly seats from Tando Allah Yar and Hyderabad, respectively.

The PPP leader said Shahjehan Baloch had withdrawn from the race as party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was contesting the elections from the NA seat from Lyari. He said both Shahjehan Baloch and Nabeel Gabol, who had represented the party from this constituency in the past, could be considered for by-elections.

The sources said that ex-MNAs Asghar Ali Shah and Kamal Chang had not been considered for the tickets by the leadership due to their opposition by the local chapters of the party.

Meanwhile, veteran politician Aftab Shaaban Mirani this time would contest the elections from the Kambar-Shahdadkot constituency instead of his native town Shikarpur. The sources said that the change in the Shikarpur constituency due to delimitation had reduced the chances of Mr Mirani to win the seat. Moreover, he had been asked to file the papers from Kambar-Shahdadkot from where previously Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari had been planning to contest the elections.

The two sisters of Asif Zardari and former MNAs — Dr Azra Fazal Pechuhu and Faryal Talpur — are also in the run for the provincial assembly seats in the general elections.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2018