UMERKOT: Considerable enthusiasm among people in Umerkot was witnessed with the start of the process of by-election for PS-52, that has fallen vacant due to the demise of Sindh Assembly member Syed Ali Mardan Shah of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The Election Commission had originally fixed the polling date as March 17 through its notification issued on Feb 12. However, another notification was issued the very next day rescheduling the election process and extending the polling date to April 15.

According to the revised schedule, nomination papers from aspirants are being received from March 2.

On the first day (Monday), former chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim submitted his nomination papers as the joint candidate of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and its ally in the federal government the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA). Several hundred of his supporters turned up to join in the rally that took Arbab Rahim to the office of the returning officer. They kept raising slogans in favour of the PTI, GDA and their joint candidate.

On Tuesday, PPP candidate Amir Ali Shah, who is the son of deceased MPA Syed Ali Mardan Shah, also submitted his nomination papers. He drove to the returning officer’s office in a big convoy which was part of a procession of several hundred of his supporters.

Besides the two main rival candidates, four other aspirants have already filed their nomination papers and more may follow suit on Wednesday (March 4), which is the last day for the submission of nomination papers. A scrutiny of nomination papers is to be held on March 8.

According to the updated list of voters, there are a total of 150,416 eligible voters (81,505 male and 68,911 female) in this constituency.

Speaking to his supporters, Amir Shah said his father served people of the constituency for 41 years and remained loyal to the PPP his entire life. He vowed to remain with the party through thick and thin in future. He said PTI and GDA could not even find a candidate from this constituency and had to bring in one from Tharparkar. He recalled that his father had defeated Arbab Rahim in the previous election by a margin of more than 20,000 votes and this time he (Amir Shah) would also hand him a defeat.

Earlier, after submitting his nomination forms, Arbab Rahim told his supporters that Ali Mardan Shah had “snatched” his victory in the previous election through rigging but this time the PPP and its allies would not be allowed to rig the polls.

He said people of Umerkot were disappointed with the poor performance of PPP government and excesses they were suffering at the hands of local party activists.

He said he was confident of his victory in the April 15 by-election as the days of PPP and its government had been numbered.”Gone are the days when PPP used to steal victory through massive rigging,” he said.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2020