HYDERABAD: A disgruntled Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader from Jamshoro district, Dr Sikandar Shoro, has returned to the party fold

and managed to get its ticket for the PS-78 (Jamshoro-II) seat that had become bone of contention between him and Malik Asad Sikandar in the July 2018 general elections.

The PPP leadership had previously given its ticket for this seat (formerly PS-82) to Malik Asad Sikandar. The seat has now been renumbered as PS-78 (Jamshoro-II) under recent delimitations. It is Kotri city’s Sindh Assembly constituency from where Dr Sikandar Shoro and his family’s members had been contesting for decades. But Malik had won PPP ticket for the seat even though he had fallen out of the party’s favour before the 2018 polls due to his differences with party leadership and Bahria Town.

Dr Shoro, however, remained adamant and decided to contest the seat as an independent candidate, amidst a heated political environment, and joined hands with Sindh Untied Party’s Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah for his seat and against PPP’s National Assembly candidate from Jamshoro, Sikandar Rahupoto, a close friend of former Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah.

Malik Asad had taken on Dr Sikandar Shoro in his speeches ahead of the July 2018 polls.

His arch rival and party colleague, Malik Asad Sikandar, gets ticket for NA constituency

But Dr Shoro made his presence felt regardless of Malik’s clout. Malik had also obtained PPP ticket for his friend, Giyan Chand Esrani, for Thana Bula Khan, another provincial constituency of Jamshoro and home to Malik Asad Sikandar.

Dr Shoro had ran an effective election campaign in 2018 but lost by a margin of around 3,000 votes. He had attributed his defeat to highhandedness resorted to by supporters of Malik Asad.

Over the last couple of years, the PPP leadership engaged Dr Shoro and he finally agreed to rejoin the party he had led as its deputy general secretary for Sindh as well.

The PPP leadership has now given him the ticket for the very contest that had compelled him to bid farewell to the party he and his family had been associated with for a long time.

Dr Shoro had challenged his defeat in an election tribunal but lost.

Malik Asad has been given Jamshoro’s only NA seat that was won by former CM’s friend, Sikandar Rahupoto. Reports from Kotri indicate that Malik wanted this seat again in addition to the Thana Bula Khan seat for his son, Malik Sikandar Khan (who is named after Asad’s father). However, his request did not get party leadership’s nod. The PPP leadership has adjusted Malik’s friend Gian Chand Essrani on a reserved seat on preferential numbers.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2024