KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Sunday announced that it would contest the Feb 8 general elections from all 22 National Assembly and 47 Sindh Assembly seats in Karachi.

The names were announced in a workers’ convention held on Sunday night on main New M. A. Jinnah Road near the party’s Idara Noor-i-Haq headquarters.

JI deputy chief Liaquat Baloch, Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman and other leaders addressed the convention.

According to the election plan announced by the party, Hafiz Naeem will contest the election from two NA constituencies — NA-246 and NA-250.

Other candidates included Mumtaz Hussain from NA-229, Muhammad Islam NA-230, Umar Farooq NA-231, Taufeequddin Siddiqi NA-232, Abdul Jameel Khan NA-233, Akhtar Hussain Qureshi NA-234, Dr Mairaj ul Huda Siddiqi NA-235, Dr Usama Razi NA-236, Irfan Ikhlas NA-237, Advocate Saifuddin NA-238, Fazalur Rehman NA-239, Syed Abdul Rasheed NA-240, Naveed Ali Baig NA-241, Maulana Fazal Ahmed NA-242, Shiraz Khan Jadoon NA-243, Irfan Ahmed NA-244, Haji Muhammad Ishaq NA-245, Munim Zafar NA-247, Muhammad Babar Khan NA-248 and Muslim Pervez will contest elections from NA-249 constituency.

The party also announced its candidates for all provincial assembly seats in Karachi except PS-105 from where the candidate would be announced later.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Baloch urged Karachiites to support the party candidates in the upcoming general elections.

He was of the view that immediate general elections in the country were the need of the hour. He was of the view that any delay would result in chaos and unrest.

The JI leader further said that the entire country looked towards Karachi when it came to setting political trends.

A so-called big political party was pinned to the ground and Hafiz Naeem emerged as the most promising leader in the mega city, he said, adding that the JI become the single largest party when it comes to popular vote.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2024