HYDERABAD: A total of 221 candidates are in the fray for 13 National Assembly (NA) seats and 548 are in the run for 28 provincial assembly (PA) seats in Hyderabad division.

Hyderabad district has seen highest number of women - 20 - contesting six PA seats, according to official statistics.

Hyderabad division has nine districts — Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Hyderabad, Tando Mohammad Khan, Badin, Sujawal, Thatta, Jamshoro and Dadu.

Barring Hyderabad, Badin and Dadu that have three and two each NA seats, respectively, the rest of the districts have one NA seat. Among districts having single NA seats, only Jamshoro has three Sindh Assembly constituencies.

Hyderabad also has six provincial seats, PS-60 to PS-65; Badin has five PA seats, PS-68 to PS-72; and Dadu has four PA seats, PS-80 to PS-83.

Matiari has two PA seats, PS-56 and PS-57; Tando Allahyar has PS-57 and PS-58; Tando Mohammad Khan has PS-66 and PS-67; Sujawal has PS-73 and PS-74; Thatta has PS-75 and PS-76 while Jamshoro has three PA seats, PS-77, PS-78 and PS-79.

Matiari has NA-216 where 12 candidates including 11 male and one female are in the run; 18 candidates including 16 male and two female are contesting NA-217 in Tando Allahyar.

For three Hyderabad NA seats, NA-218 (Hyderabad-I), NA-219 (Hyderabad-II) and NA-220 (Hyderabad-III), 87 candidates including four women are in the fray. Eleven candidates, among them two women, are contesting NA-218; 40 including two females are contesting NA-219 and 36 are in the run for NA-220. 17 candidates are contesting NA-221 in Tando Mohammad Khan.

In Badin, 29 candidates are contesting two NA seats, NA-222 (Badin-I) and NA-223 Badin-II. 15 candidates including a female were in the race for NA-222 and 14 candidates including one female were vying for NA-223.

In Sujawal district, eight candidates are in the run for NA-224; 12 candidates including one woman were contesting NA-225 (Thatta) and 11 candidates including one female were in the race for NA-226 (Jamshoro). 12 candidates including two women are fighting for NA-227 (Dadu-I) and 15 for NA-228 (Dadu-II).

The breakup of provincial seats of these district shows that nine candidates including one female are in the race for PS-56 and 15 for PS-57 in Matiari; 23 candidates including two women are contesting PS-58 and 12 are in the fray for PS-59 (Tando Allahyar).

24 candidates among them five women are in the run for PS-60; 13 including one female is fighting for PS-61; 35 including one woman are vying for PS-62; 41 including six women are contesting PS-63; 45 including five women are in the run for PS-64 and 42 including two women are contesting PS-65 of Hyderabad.

In Tando Mohammad Khan, 20 candidates including two women are running for PS-66 and 12 are contesting PS-67.

In Badin, 12 candidates including two women are in fray for PS-68; 18 including two women are running for PS-69; 21 are fighting for PS-70; 21 including one woman are in the fray for PS-71 and 17 are fighting for PS-72. 11 candidates are vying for PS-73 and 13 including one woman are in the race for PS-74 of Sujawal; 10 are in the run for PS-75 and seven in the race for PS-76 of Thatta. Thatta had three PA seats in 2018 polls but after delimitations it has now two seats.

In Jamshoro, 16 candidates are fighting for PS-77, 14 aspirants including three women are running for PS-78 and 16 including two women are in the fray for PS-79. In Dadu, 12 candidates are facing each other on PS-80, 19 candidates including one woman are contesting PS-81, 21 for PS-82 and 20 for PS-83.

The exact figures may vary in case of retirement of candidates at the eleventh hour.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2024