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Tuesday March 19, 2024

PS-11 by-polls: GDA’s Moazzam Ali retains seat by defeating PPP in its stronghold

PS-11 Larkana-II by-polls: According to unofficial results, Moazzam Ali Khan Abbasi got 31,557 votes, whereas PPP’s candidate Jameel Ahmed Soomro secured 26,021 votes.

By Web Desk
October 18, 2019

LARKANA: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) suffered a crushing defeat in its stronghold Larkana as the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate  Moazzam Ali Khan Abbasi won the PS-11 by-elections on Thursday.

Grand National Alliance (GDA) candidate Mozzam Abbasi has retained his seat for the second time by knocking out  Pakistan People's Party (PPP) candidate Jamil Ahmed Soomro.

According to unofficial results received from all 138 polling stations, Mozzam Abbasi bagged 29,321 votes while Jamil Ahmed Soomro got 26,329 votes. In last year’s general elections, GDA’s Moazzam Ali Khan had secured 32, 178 votes, while PPP’s Nida Khuhro had received 21,811 votes.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced by-elections in the PS-11 Larkana-II constituency after the de-seating of MPA Moazzam Abbasi of the Grand Democratic Alliance by the Supreme Court in August.

Earlier, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had held meetings with stakeholders of the PPP and supporters, including PML-N to get his candidate Jamil Ahmed Soomro elected. 

On the other hand, JUI-F, which was a part of joint opposition, at this constituencyhad supported the GDA backed candidate Mozzam Khan Abbasi. 

During the poll process, law enforcement agencies and police were on high alert.  At least  20 polling stations, in the constituency, were declared most sensitive where security was beefed up.

 Soomro observed a brief sit-in when he was stopped from meeting the District Returning Officer (DRO) in his office, Later, he ended the sit-in when he was allowed to meet the DRO.

Reacting on the defeat of his candidate in by-elections, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari   tweeted that his party will challenge this ‘rigging’ at every forum as the truth can’t be hidden and will expose this selection.

Bilawal Bhutto, in a series of tweets, lauded PPP workers for fighting an honorable election despite immense pressure hurdles they faced. He wrote: "Our candidate wasn’t even allowed inside polling stations. We kept asking ECP to intervene but its mala fide intent was apparent in its silence. Despite all this political engineering PPP has reduced the GDA/JUIF/PTI lead by 5,000 votes in less than a year."

It is  to mention here that last year GDA's candidate's lead was more than 10,000 and it  reduced to  nearly 5,000 in tby-elections. While  PPP's candidate has received more votes  in this contest as compared to the last year's.