No upset in NA seats of District Keamari with Qadir Patel, Mustafa Kamal winning

By Oonib Azam

February 10, 2024

The results for Karachi’s District Keamari’s two National Assembly seats have aligned exactly with predictions.

This combo shows Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Abdul Qadir Patel (R) and Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). — Facebook/Abdul Qadir Patel,Syed Mustafa Kamal

NA-243 was expected to be an easy win for the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Abdul Qadir Patel despite the fact that he was not very active in electioneering in the area. Likewise, Mustafa Kamal of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) was being considered a favourite candidate for NA-242, also secured a significant number of votes and emerged victorious.

The surprising element in both constituencies was the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates who emerged as runners-up in both constituencies, outperforming other political parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party by a significant margin.

The voter turnout was impressive in both constituencies. In NA-242 where Kamal won, the voter turnout was 43.7 per cent, whereas in NA-243 where Patel won, the voter turnout was 37.4 per cent.

Kamal received a total of 71,767 votes defeating PTI-backed independent candidate Dawa Khan who polled 53,759 votes. The PPP candidate in the constituency, Qadir Khan Mandokhel, who was expected to pose a challenge for the MQM, received only 17,493 votes.

In the 2018 general elections, the PTI’s Faisal Vawda had clinched the seat narrowly defeating Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Shehbaz Sharif by a margin of a few hundred votes. This result of this seat remained controversial throughout Vawda’s stay in the National Assembly.

In NA-243, Patel polled a total of 62,266 votes, defeating the PTI-backed Shujaat Ali who garnered a total of 48,690 votes. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz-backed candidate Akhtar Jadoon stood third receiving a total of 19,595 votes.

In the last general elections, Patel had won the same National Assembly seat. He then went on to become the federal health minister when Shehbaz Sharif was elected as the prime minister.