HYDERABAD, Oct 9: The stage is set for holding the election on Thursday in the backdrop of some clashes reported between the supporters of various parties in the interior of Sindh.

Whatever the results of the elections are, one thing is quite clear that the public, like always, will be the loser. No wonder the masses have refused to participate in the lacklustre election campaign.

The absence of prominent political personalities, like PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif has further dampened the voters’ spirit.

The split in the PML-N and the internal fragmentation of the PPP has also kept the people away from the election rallies.

Political analysts believe that Ms Bhutto’s telephonic campaign came too late and achieved little in terms of workers’ mobilization as she addressed only three public meetings. Mr Sharif was unable to do even this.

The chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, on the other hand, kept addressing public meetings throughout the duration of the election campaign.

The Muttahida chief also used the “Sindh card” to appease the Sindhis. It remains to be seen whether it was successful or not.

Mr Hussain has withdrawn his candidate from Kotri in favour of an SDA-National Alliance candidate, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah, the grandson of G. M. Syed, besides making seat adjustments in Mirpurkhas with the PML-F.

His focus, however, remained concentrated on Karachi and Hyderabad.

Hyderabad has remained a Muttahida stronghold since 1988. However, the situation appears to have changed over the years and now it would not find winning seats so easy.

The MQM is facing considerable competition in NA-220, (Hyderabad-III), in shape of a strong Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal candidate, Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair.

Mr Hussain tried to neutralize the effect of Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani’s Monday night address in the Effendi Town the very next day after he spoke to a large gathering in the same constituency.

The division in the Muttahida’s opposition is favouring the party as it is facing over a dozen candidates in NA-219 and NA-220, including those of the PPP, MIT, Mohajir Qaumi Movement and the PML-N.

It has also put up candidates on 32 National Assembly and 65 Provincial Assembly seats throughout Sindh.

The MQM chief has already started talking, in veiled terms, about forming government in Sindh.

Some 345 candidate are contesting for the 41 National Assembly seats in the 15 districts in the interior, and 954 candidates are contesting for the 88 Provincial Assembly seats.

In the defunct Hyderabad division — Hyderabad, Dadu, Badin and Thatta districts — 392 candidates had contested for the 12 National Assembly and 25 Provincial Assembly seats in the 1997 polls.

There are 361 candidates in the field although the number of National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats has been raised by 13 and 29 for the Oct 10 election.

There have been complaints about pre-polls rigging, harassment and interference by the government functionaries, including the governor, ministers and the Nazims but the redeeming feature of the election is the participation of women and the minorities.

Forty-five minority candidates are contesting from 15 districts on National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats.

Some 29 candidates are contesting from Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar districts and 16 from the rest of the interior.

The All Pakistan Minority Alliance has signed a memorandum of understanding with the PPP and the credit must go to the PPP for accommodating the minority candidates.

There are 30 women candidates — 10 for the National Assembly seats and 19 for the Provincial Assembly seats — in the field from the 15 districts.

Four women and six male candidates of different parties are in the field for NA-223, Hyderabad-VI, but the constituency has always remained a stronghold of the PPP.

In the ‘97 election, Benazir Bhutto had defeated Allah Bux Magsi on this seat. This is also one of those seats where the split in the PPP is evident, yet its candidate, Shamshad Sattar Bachani, is likely to win the seat.

The split is also evident in Ghotki where the chief of the Mehar tribe, Ali Mohammad, and the chief of the Lund tribe, Khalid Khan, returned party tickets to run as independent candidates for the National Assembly seats.

Ms Bhutto’s absence is more prominent in her own district, Larkana.

Tough competition is also expected in the Sukkur district where a senior PPP leader will face 16 opponents, including Abdul Qadir Ghumro of the PML-F, Ahmad Ali of the PML-Q, Sakhi Razaque Khoso of the Muttahida and Asad Thanvi of the MMA.

For NA-208, (Jacobabad-I), Illahi Bux Soomro, is up against the PPP’s Mir Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani.

Makhdoom Amin Fahim is well entrenched in NA-218, Hyderabad-I.

Aftab Shaban Mirani is contesting from NA-202 (Shikarpur-I). He has won this seat thrice.

Record shows that NA-209, (Jacobabad-II), was won by the PPP from 1988 to 1997. Here, Mir Hazar Khan Bajrani is facing Abdul Raheem Khoso of the PML-Q.

NA-222 has also remained a PPP stronghold as its candidates had won the seat during the previous polls.

In Nawabshah, Dr Azra Pechuho, the sister of Asif Ali Zardari, is competing against Syed Zahid Hussain of the PML-Q.

Yousuf Talpur is contesting for NA-228.

In Tharparkar, the power of the Arbabs, who had won the National Assembly seat from 1988 to 1997, seemed to have eroded somewhat. Now, Arbab Ghulam Rahim is contesting for NA-229 as a National Alliance candidate. It will, however, be difficult to predict the outcome of the polls in the face of the tough competition.