KARACHI, May 11: All is set for by elections being held on Wednesday to four National Assembly and two Provincial Assembly seats in the province amid acrimonious verbal bouts between rival political parties.

Polling will be held between 8am and 5 pm without any break in all the six constituencies. The provincial election commission has dispatched staff and sealed bags containing election material to various polling stations.

Out of four NA seats, three seats (NA-240, NA-243, NA-246) are in Karachi while NA-236 is in Sanghar. Of the two PS seats, PS-127 is in Karachi while PS-31 falls in Khairpur.

In Karachi, three NA seats - NA-240 (Karachi-II), NA-243 (Karachi-V) and NA-246 (Karachi-VIII) - fell vacant after Muttahida Qaumi Movement legislators stepped down on the advice of the party chief, Altaf Hussain.

The lone provincial assembly seat in the city (PS-127) fell vacant after the murder of PPP MPA, Abdullah Murad. There is a hot contest between the MQM and the PPP in the constituency, with the People's Party trying to retain the seat.

Although in all the constituencies there are over half-a-dozen candidates, the main fight is likely between the candidates fielded by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Muttahida Majlise Amal, except in NA-236 (Sanghar-III) where the contest will be between the PML-F and the MMA. In PS-31 (Khairpur), the contest is between the PPP and the PML-F and in PS-127 Karachi between the PPP and the MQM.

The election campaign of the candidates fielded by different parties ended on Monday night. It, however, failed to raise political temperature, primarily owing to the Hyderi Mosque blast.

The electoral college of the constituencies, according to the election commission, comprises 290,665 voters in NA-236, 222,359 voters in NA-240; 250,670 in NA-243 and 261,066 in NA-246 while in PS-31 there are 155,746 voters and in PS-127 are 137,955 voters.

For PS-127, the election commission has set up 130 polling stations while for NA-240, there are 177 polling stations. For NA-243 and NA-246, there are 200 and 197 polling stations, respectively.

NA-236 (Sanghar-III): There are seven candidates in the run. They are: Hussain Bux Khaskheli (Pen), Liaquat Ali Marri (Rose), Muhammad Ayub Shaikh (Kite), Muhammad Hanif Khoso (Car), Muhammad Omar Qureshi (Jug), Mushtaq Ahmed Adil (Book), and Nooruddin Chandio (Scooter).

NA-240 (Karachi-II) (Baldia and Pak Colony): There are a total of nine candidates in the run, and they are: Sathi Mohammad Ishaq (Key), Shafiq Rehman Butt (Crescent), Qari Mohammad Osman (Book), Mohammad Arshad Qureshi (Pen), Mohammad Bux Lashari alias Buxan Baloch (Arrow), Mohammad Abid Ali Khan Umang (Kite), Mohammad Minhaj Qazi (Lock), Mian Ejaz Shafi (Tiger) and Wazeer Khan Afridi (Apple).

NA-243 (Karachi V) (New Karachi and Surjani Town): There are six candidates in the run. They are: Anwar Ahmed Khan Yusufzai (Arrow), Hafiz Muhammad Taqi (Book), Dr M. Naveed Saleem (Tiger), Syed A. Nasir Ali (Key), Abdul Waseem (Kite), and Waheed Ahmed (Lock).

NA-246 (Karachi-VIII) (Liaquatabad-Azizabad): There are nine candidates in the run. They are: Ashfaq Mangi (Apple), Intikhab Alam Suri (Pen), Rashid Naseem (Book), Zahid Sultan (Tiger), Sohail Ansari (Arrow), Rashid Ahmed (Star), Nisar Panhwar (Kite), Nusratullah s/o Raja Abdul (Pen) and Yusuf Munir Shaikh (Hockey).

PS-31: There are nine candidates. Ashfaq Mangi (Kite), Mohammad Rafique Bhanban (Rose), Syed Irshad Raza Shah (Crown), Syed Shahabuddin Shah alias Deendar Ali Shah (Car), Syed Attaullah Shah Bokhari (Aeroplane), Shaukat Ali Rajpar (Arrow), Mohammad Ishaq Sher (Leaf), Mohammad Nawaz Bhanban (Pen) and Yusuf Munir Shaikh (Apple).

PS-127 (Malir): There are 11 candidates. They are: Mohammad Omar Jatt (Arrow), Yusuf Munir (Kite), Ashfaq Mangi (Kettle), Iqbal Gulraiz (Crescent), Zainul Abideen Ansari (Tiger), Shahbaz Hussain (Wrench), Abdul Waseem (Lock), Ghulam Akbar (Tape) M. Ashraf Sammo (Star), Arif Mithani (Hockey), and Muhammad Hanif (Book).