the choice of voters. The ECP emphasised this point.
Battle lines are clearly drawn among three principal contenders - MQM’s Kanwar Navid Jamil, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Rashid Nasim and PTI’s Imran Ismail. They have also earned backing of different parties, which have not fielded their own nominees in the fight.
The Ahle Hadith Council has committed to vote for the MQM, Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslimeen has announced support to the PTI while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) will back the Jamaat-e-Islami.
The clash had the potential of becoming menacing for the MQM if the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami, the two allies in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) ruling coalition, would have joined hands. Their obsession to assert themselves independently in NA-246 is music to the MQM ears. They are apparently fighting for second position unless some upset happens.
The outcome of the contest will display certain political realities. After the 1992 military operation before which Altaf Hussain left Pakistan for Britain and is there since then, the MQM is under immense pressure for a variety of happenings.
The recovery of hardened criminals from its headquarters Nine Zero during the Rangers raid, confessions of the accused, admitting many heinous crimes, arrested from there, and startling video statement of death row prisoner Saulat Mirza rocked the MQM and pushed it to a place where it has hardly been earlier.
While contesting in this environment, the result of the by-poll will reveal the real strength of the MQM as it is no more be enjoying full backing of the establishment or the provincial government. Successive elections in Karachi have been an easy, smooth affair for it. It has never been so much worried or campaigned hard as it has now.
If it lost, the previous allegations that it has been winning polls through ballot stuffing and other illegal means will hold ground. If it won against the prevailing heavy odds, its popularity would be further stamped.
However, the MQM faces the challenge of touching its 137,874 votes that it secured in the 2013 elections from this constituency. Its representative had gained even more, 186,933 ballots in the 2008 polls.
The performance of the PTI nominee will unveil the impact of its protracted protest sit-in and politics of agitation. Its claim of having become very popular will be tested. In 2013, its cardholder had bagged 31,875 votes.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, which has consistently complained that its mandate had been stolen for decades in Karachi, is struggling to regain its lost glory. It is now in no position to air such grievances.
Since it is just one by-election, it has been easy for the law enforcement agencies, ECP and Sindh government to make foolproof arrangements.
However, it becomes quite difficult to take such comprehensive measures at the large scale all over Pakistan.