NAWABSHAH, Aug 7: Being the home district of Asif Ali Zardari, the People’s Party Parliamentarians had won both MNA and five MPA seats in the last general elections.

Now the situation has radically changed in the district because new talukas and union councils have been created and old players have entered into the political arena with renewed vigour.

The district has remained a PPP stronghold but previously the MQM had won the MPA seat of the Nawabshah city.

In the last general elections, the PPP had given the seat to a settler to capture votes of the city’s sizeable Punjabi population. The PPP’s strategy worked and Sindhi and Punjabi voters jointly defeated the MQM candidate.

This time, a number of MQM ministers and advisers including M.A. Jalil, Qamar Mansoor, Adil Siddiqui and Kamal Mustafa visited the city to seek support for the Haq Parasat Group.

On the PPP’s side, sisters of Asif Zardari, MNA Dr Azra Pechuho and former district nazim Faryal Talpur, and PPP stalwart MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio are struggling to win the district for the Awam Dost Panel.

Other major groups in the arena are: PML-backed Nawabshah Awami Ittehad (NAI), Insan Dost Panel (IDP) backed by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, PML-F backed Faqir Dost Panel (FDP), Nawabshah United Front (NUF) backed by Sindhi nationalists.

The adviser to the Sindh chief minister, Ghulam Rasool Unnar, and the Nawabshahi Syeds are also very important players.

There are 536,890 registered voters for 663 seats in 51 UCs of the district.

The election in the district situated in the heart of Sindh is being held in the second phase on Aug 25.

Having a population of 1.102 million, the district has 13 UCs in Nawabshah taluka, 14 in Daur taluka and 12 UCs each in Sakrand and Doulatpur talukas.

A total of 1,970 candidates including 184 pairs of nazim and naib nazim, 824 Muslim general (men), 271 Muslim general (women), 405 peasants and workers (men), 188 peasants and workers (women) and 98 minority candidates would contest elections on 663 seats.

About 32 candidates including two pairs of nazim and naib nazim pairs have been elected unopposed.

The Daulatpur taluka is a stronghold of the Dahiri Biradari who are backing the ruling PML.

A close fight is expected between the PPP and the NAI in Qazi Ahmed taluka.