Sunday’s by-elections in the NA-237 District Malir and NA-239 District Korangi constituencies of the city have boosted the confidence of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and dealt a severe blow to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan. Meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, who was contesting a total of seven by-elections across the country, also faced his only defeat in NA-237.
In the two by-polls of Karachi, only one female contestant was in the run. The candidate who polled the highest votes was the PTI chairman who secured 50,014 votes in NA-239. The lowest number of votes were obtained by an independent candidate in NA-239 who polled only four votes.
In total, Khan polled 72,507 votes from the two constituencies.
NA-237
PPP candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch for NA-237 is arguably the biggest winner of the two by-polls held in Karachi on Sunday.
He was also the PPP’s candidate back in the 2018 general elections when he polled 32,054 votes and was a runner-up. He was defeated by the PTI’s Jamil Ahmed Khan who secured just around 1,500 votes more than him, polling 33,522 votes. The turnout in the constituency in the 2018 elections was 42.23 per cent.
In the by-poll, the turnout was 20.33 per cent, less than a half of the general elections’ turnout, but Baloch polled around 500 votes more than what he had polled in the general elections. He secured 32,567 votes, defeating Khan by a margin of around 10,074 votes as the PTI chairman polled just 22,493 votes.
This signifies that the PPP’s voters in the constituency fully participated in the by-election while many PTI supporters opted to stay at home. However, the NA-237 result must not be construed as the reflection of general political inclination of the people of Karachi as the constituency mainly comprises suburban and rural areas of the city such as Gadap.
According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, a total of 11 candidates contested the NA-237 by-poll. They included six independent candidates — Irshad Ali who bagged 193 votes, Jamil Ahmed Khan who bagged 32 votes, Khalid Mehmood Ali who polled 81 votes, Shariq Jamal who 182 votes, Tariq Aziz who polled 36 votes, and Noman Abdullah who bagged 26 votes.
The third highest number of votes in the constituency were bagged by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Samiullah Khan who polled 2,956 votes. The Pak Sarzameen Party’s (PSP) Muhammad Aamir Shaikhani and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s (JUI-F) Muhammad Ismail failed to show impressive performance as they could bag only 297 and 221 votes respectively.
According to the ECP’s data mentioned in the form 47 of the NA-237 Malir II by-poll, a total of 59,066 residents exercised their right to vote. They included 39,611 male and 20,291 female voters. A total of 836 votes were not counted.
The total number of voters in the constituency is 294,699, including 165913 men and 128,786 women. In the 2018 general elections, MQM-P’s Dr Nadeem Maqbool had come third after bagging 14,264 votes. This time, the MQM-P was not in the NA-237 contest. The party was rather hoping for grabbing NA-239, where its dreams shattered.
NA-239
In the 2018 general elections, MQM-P candidate Sohail Mansoor Khawaja had lost NA-239 Korangi seat to PTI’s Muhammad Akram by a margin of just 350 votes. Akram polled 69,161 votes while Khawaja secured 68,811. In the by-election on Sunday, the margin of defeat increased from 350 votes to 31,868 votes as the PTI chairman won the seat by securing 50,014 votes while the MQM-P’s Nayyar Raza could poll only 18,116 votes. The TLP’s Muhammad Yasin came third with 7,953 votes. Syed Imran Haider Abidi of the PPP clinched the fourth position with 4,506 votes. Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi candidate Khurram Maqsood polled 1,590 votes while JUI-F’s Muhammad Ramazan received 352 votes.
Qaisar Iqbal of the Pakistan Muslim Alliance bagged 78 votes.
A total of 22 candidates were in the fray, of whom 14 were independent candidates. They included Maqbool Ahmed who bagged four votes, Mushtaq Ahmed who bagged 14 votes, Muhammad Aamir Shaikhani who received 23 votes, Muhammad Tariq who polled 190 votes, Muhammad Akram who bagged 47 votes, Muhammad Asad Usmani who polled 310 votes, Muhammad Ihsan who bagged 25 votes, Akhtar Hussain who polled 43 votes, Nisar Ahmed who polled 921 votes, Rehman Waheed Bajwa who bagged 22 votes, Rehan Mansoor who polled 42 votes, Sikandar Khatoon who polled 105 votes, Sajid Tarmizi who bagged 15 votes, and Shaukatullah who received 333 votes.
Among the independent candidates, Shaikhani was the covering candidate for the PSP in NA-239, while he was the main candidate of the party in NA-237. Similarly, the PSP’s main candidate Shariq Jamal in NA-239 was the covering candidate in NA-237. Jamal polled 1,208 votes in NA-239.
According to the statistics issued by the ECP, the turnout in the NA-239 by-election was 14.88 per cent. As many as 85,911 voters, including 55,387 men and 31,181 women exercised their right to vote. A total of 657 votes were not counted.
A total of 581,888 voters are registered in NA-239, including 311,004 men and 270,884 women.
