A THREE-WAY tough fight is expected on two National Assembly — NA-205 and NA-206 — and four provincial assembly seats — PS-32, PS-33, PS-34 and PS-35 — in district Naushahro Feroze between candidates belonging to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and its main opponents — the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) — in the February 8 general elections.

Although the traditional enthusiasm among voters is missing this time round, corner meetings are being held by major players in different constituencies in a bid to mobilise their support base. However, videos of voters and supporters, annoyed with parties, have gone viral on social media, showing them questioning their leaders ‘poor’ performance.

While some influential PPP leaders who had left the party before the 2018 elections have now returned to their party giving it an edge, the GDA and PML-N have also managed to get the support of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, who have pockets of support in almost all major towns of the district.

In the 2018 general elections, the PPP managed to grab both NA and three of the four PA seats in the district.

This time round, the party kicked off its campaign by organising a power show, where its chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had specifically talked about the flood-hit areas of the district and promised to build a university.

The district, which has remained a stronghold of the Jatois and the Syeds, is still seeing same fights on most of the seats where either a Syed or a Jatoi is contesting.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, there are a total of 943,185 registered voters in the district, including 508,321 male and 434,864 female voters.

NA-205

As many as 18 candidates are in the field on NA-205 (previously NA-211), which is comprised of Kandiaro, Mehrabpur, Bhria and Halani. It has a total of 477,339 voters.

A traditional and tough competition is expected between PPP candidate Syed Abrar Ali Shah and PML-N candidate Syed Asghar Ali Shah.

This PPP had won this seat in all previous general elections in 2002, 2008, 2013 and 2018.

Former NA deputy speaker Syed Zafar Ali Shah won this seat on PPP ticket in 2002 and 2008, but later he left the PPP due to differences with the leadership and contested the elections on the same seat on the ticket of PML-N in 2013. However, he lost to PPP’s Syed Asghar Ali Shah whereas Ghulam Murtaza Khan Jatoi of the National Peoples Party (NPP) stood second. And in the 2018 polls, Syed Abrar Shah of Halani of the PPP had retained the same seat.

Naseer Ahmed of the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Naimatullah of Pakistan Rah-i-Haq Party were also trying their luck on this seat.

The position of the PPP appears to be much better after a few influential local leaders including former MPA Dr Sattar Rajper and Maqsood Ali Khushik, who had left the PPP in 2018 elections and joined the GDA, have returned back to the PPP and announced their full support to the party candidates.

On PS-32 (Halani, Kandiaro), the position of PPP candidate Syed Sarfaraz Ali Shah is stronger after Maqsood Ali Khushik, a former jiyala, has re-joined the party.

The GDA has fielded Syed Zuhaib Ali Shah, a nephew of Syed Zafar Ali Shah, for this seat.

Zuhaib Shah was earlier given the ticket on the same seat in 2018, however, it was later withdrawn and given to Maqsood Ahmed Khushik when he left the PPP and joined the GDA.

Rahim Bux Khoso of PPP-Shaheed Bhutto was also in the field along with 16 other candidates.

On PS-33, (Bhria, Mehrabpur, Tharushah Padidan)

25 candidates are in the field, but the main contest is between PPP candidate Syed Hassan Ali Shah, son of influential politician Syed Murad Ali Shah (not the former chief minister), and GDA’s Shakeel Ahmed Jalbani, a brother of former PPP MPA of Nawabshah Saleem Raza Jalbani.

Shakeel Jalbani joined the PML-N in the recent past but left when he was not awarded a party ticket. He managed to get a GDA ticket.

The seat was won by Dr Abdul Sattar Rajper in 2008 and by Murad Shah on PPP ticket in 2013 and 2018, respectively. Dr Rajper, a jiyala, left the PPP in 2018 and contested the polls on a GDA ticket but lost to Murad Shah. Now he has re-joined the PPP after a meeting with PPP-Sindh president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and announced his support to the party candidate.

While Sahibdino of the TLP is also in the run along with others, the prospects of Hassan Shah of the PPP winning the polls are bright.

NA-206

The NA-206 constituency is comprised of Naushahro Feroze and Moro. With a total of 465,846 registered voters, a close contest is expected between NPP chairman and former federal minister Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, who is contesting the election from GDA’s platform, and Zulfiqar Ali Behan of the PPP.

This seat is known to be a stronghold of the Jatois of Moro. However, in 1988 NPP founder and former prime minister Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi had lost the elections against Haji Rehmatullah Behan of the PPP. And his son Murtaza also failed to win the seat in the 2018 general elections against PPP’s Zulfiqar Ali Behan.

A tough fight is expected on the seat this time.

Mohammed Rashid of the TLP, Muhammed Shabir Khanzada of the Jamaat-i-Islami and PTI-backed independent Aman Qazi are also among the prominent candidates.

The two provincial assembly seats under this constituency will also witness interesting and neck-and-neck fight.

A total of 17 candidates are contesting on PS-34 (Naushahro Feroze).

The PPP has fielded Mumtaz Ali Chandio, who had won the same seat in 2018. However, in the 2013 general election, he had lost to NPP’s Aqib Khan Jatoi. Shahnawaz Jatoi is in the field on the ticket of the GDA.

There seems to be a tough fight on this seat as both sides are trying their level best to appease voters.

The second provincial assembly seat, PS-35 (Moro), is considered as a stronghold of Jatois as they had won the seat in the last four general elections.

However, PPP’s Ziaul Hasan Lanjar had won the seat in 2016 in a by-election, held on the orders of the Supreme Court, after Murtaza Jatoi did not contest and other opposition boycotted the election.

The PPP has again brought Zia Lanjar who will be facing Masroor Khan Jatoi, a son of late Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi.

Mr Lanjar, who is also the divisional president of the PPP and a close aide to senior PPP leader Faryal Talpur, has been looking after the party affairs in the district for the past 10 years. He has also served as the chairman of the Sindh Bar Council. He was instrumental in initiating several development projects in the district. However, he lost the 2018 elections reportedly due to some internal rivalries.

The Jatois on the other hand are also making all-out efforts to ensure that they retain their home seat at any cost for which they have been visiting communities and trying to get maximum support.

Although 20 other candidates, including PTI-backed independent candidate Mohammed Siyal, are in the run, a real contest is expected between Masroor Jatoi of the GDA and Zia Lanjar of the PPP on this seat.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2024