MQM-P to also field candidates against Zardari, Bilawal

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has decided to field candidates against Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto in the coming by-elections of Nawabshah and Larkana, announced the party’s information department in-charge on Tuesday.

Co-chairperson and chairperson of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), former president Zardari and Bilawal had announced contesting elections on constituencies vacated by the PPP’s Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho and Ayaz Soomro.

Discussions with respect to which candidate to field were ongoing, he said.

Haq added that MQM-P had a considerable number of people associated with it in Nawabshah, from where the party had also previously won a provincial assembly seat.

Dr Azra, sister of the former president had won the NA-213 seat after securing 113,119 votes, while the MQM’s Inayat Ali Rind had secured 33,874 votes, followed by Zahid Hussain Shah of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) who managed to bag 25,233 votes.

Both Dr Azra and Soomro resigned from the seats for Zardari and Bilawal, following the former’s public announcement.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was also in the run for the two national assembly seats.

Addressing a huge rally in Larkana, on December 27, this past year, on occasion of Benazir Bhutto’s ninth death anniversary, Asif Zardari
had announced that he and his son, Bilawal Bhutto, would contest elections and take part in parliamentary politics.

“I would contest elections from Nawabshah on my sister’s seat and chairman Bilawal from Larkana,” the PPP co-chairman had announced.