76 by-election candidates to battle for four Karachi seats

A total of 76 candidates are contesting the by-elections for two National Assembly seats and as many Sindh Assembly seats that are scheduled to be held in the second and third week of this month in Karachi.

The by-poll for NA-243 (East-II) and PS-87 (Malir-I) will be held on October 14, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), while the race for NA-247 (South-II) and PS-111 (South-V) will take place on October 21.

The battle for the city’s PS-87 constituency was postponed due to the death of a candidate, while the rest of the seats were vacated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders.

NA-243

The NA-243 seat was vacated by PTI Chairman Imran Khan, who later became the prime minister, after he chose to keep his hometown seat of NA-95 (Mianwali) among the five he had won across the country in the July 25 general elections. In a bid to reclaim the constituency, the PTI has fielded its FixIt-famed Alamgir Khan.

Including Alamgir, a total of 22 candidates are contesting for the seat. They include Hakim Ali of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Syed Asif Hasnain of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Syed Nawazul Huda of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Amir Waliuddin Chishti of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Naeem Akhtar of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).

In the general elections the MQM-P finished runner-up with 24,082 votes behind the PTI that won 91,358 votes. The MMA stood third and the PPP came in fourth.

A total of 402,731 voters are registered here. Of these 211,510 (53 per cent) are men and 191,221 women. On Election Day the turnout here was recorded at 41.14 per cent, in which male and female participation was 53 per cent and 47 per cent respectively.  

NA-247

The NA-247 seat fell vacant after its winner Arif Alvi of the PTI was elected the country’s president. Alvi had won this seat for the second consecutive time with 91,020 votes. The party has fielded Aftab Siddiqui for the by-election.

Among the total 12 contestants here, Sadiq Iftikhar belongs to the MQM-P, Qasir Nizamani to the PPP, Arshad Vohra, who is the deputy mayor of Karachi, to the PSP and Ali Nawaz to the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek. The rest of the candidates are independents.

With 24,680 votes, the TLP had finished runner-up party on July 25, but the party has not fielded any candidate for the by-poll. The MQM-P had claimed the third spot and on the fourth was the MMA.

A total of 546,451 voters — 295,567 (54 per cent) male and 250,884 female — are registered here. The turnout in the general elections was recorded at 40.27 per cent, with 61 per cent male and 39 per cent female participation.  

PS-111

The PTI’s Imran Ismail had vacated this seat after he was chosen to be the Sindh governor. He had won this seat with 30,576 votes.

The party has awarded the ticket to Shahzad Qureshi this time. Of the total 16 candidates, Jehanzeb Mughal belongs to the MQM-P, Sikander Agar to the TLP, Fayyaz Pirzada to the PPP and Yasir Uddin Siddiqui to the PSP.

A total of 141,297 voters, with 81,976 (58 per cent) men and 59,321 women, are registered here. The turnout on Election Day was recorded at 41.59 per cent, with male and female participation standing at 57 per cent and 43 per cent respectively. The MMA finished runner-up here, while the PPP and the MQM-P came in third and fourth.

PS-87

The polling in the PS-87 constituency was postponed after a contestant, Sharif Ahmed Khanzada of the TLP, died in a road accident on the National Highway on July 14, less than a fortnight before the general elections. The party is back in the race for the seat with another candidate, Qurban Ali.

A total of 26 candidates are participating here. Among them Waliur Rehman belongs to the Grand Democratic Alliance, Muhammad Saleem to the PSP, Muhammad Sajid to the PPP, Qadir Bux Gabol to the PTI, Khalida Ateeb to the MQM-P and Hamdullah to the MMA. A total of 141,297 voters, 83,992 (59 per cent) men and 62,860 women, are registered here.

  * Data source: ECP