KARACHI, April 18: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has finalised a list of its candidates for the May 11 general elections on Thursday, which was the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers.
While an official announcement regarding the MQM candidates would be made on Saturday, party sources said that most MQM candidates on national and provincial assembly seats in Karachi were those who had earlier contested and won the 2008 general elections.
However, they said, some new faces were also fielded by the party on the NA and PA seats.
Twelve former MNAs from Karachi — Dr Farooq Sattar (NA-249), Khushbakht Shujaat (NA-250), Sufyan Yousuf (NA-247), Shaikh Salahuddin (NA-244), Khwaja Sohail Mansoor (NA-240), Rashid Godial (NA-252), S M Iqbal Qadri (NA-241), Abdul Waseem (NA-243), Rehan Hashmi (NA-245), Asif Hasnain (NA-255), Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan (NA-256) and Sajid Ahmed (NA-257) — have been given party tickets on as many NA seats.
Veteran politician Nabil Gabol, a new entrant to the MQM, has been given a party ticket from two NA seats, NA-246 (Federal B Area) and NA-248 (Lyari).
Besides, Salman Mujahid Baloch (NA-239), Syed Ali Raza Abidi (NA-251), former MPA Muzammil Qureshi (NA-253), former MPA and provincial minister Shaikh Afzal (NA-254), Mehboob Alam (NA-242) and Ahmed Gabol (NA- 258) have been given tickets on NA seats.Similarly, on the provincial assembly seats in Karachi, the MQM repeated many of its former lawmakers, including Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari, Adil Siddiqui, Dr Saghir Ahmed, Abdul Hasib and others.
The MQM fielded Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Waseem Hussain on two of the NA seats in Hyderabad (NA-219 an NA-220), respectively.
