PTI ends campaign for by-polls with ‘Tabdeeli’ rally

Ahead of the end of its campaign for the upcoming by-elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) staged a rally from Clifton to Tower on Friday to motivate the people to come out and cast their votes on the polling day.

The polling in NA-247 (South-II) and PS-111 (South-V) is scheduled for Sunday. The PTI’s Arif Alvi and Imran Ismail had won these seats in the 2018 General Election, respectively. The seats, however, fell vacant after Alvi became president of the country and Ismail assumed charge as Singh governor.

The rally, which comprised around a hundred vehicles, started from Shireen Jinnah Colony and travelled all the way to Merewether Clock Tower, crossing 26th Street, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Korangi Road, Kalapul, Shahrah-e-Faisal, Hotel Metropole, Abdullah Haroon Road, Burnes Road and MA Jinnah Road.

PTI candidate for NA-247 Aftab Siddiqui and PS-111 candidate Shahzad Qureshi led the rally as scores of party workers and supporters accompanied them. They named it “Grand Tabdeeli Rally” and said that it was intended to create awareness among the masses about the upcoming by-polls as usually such elections went unnoticed and few people participated in them.

Earlier, the PTI candidates held a free medical camp at Qamarul Islam School in Punjab Colony. A total of 546,451 voters – 295,567 males and 250,884 females – are registered in NA-247 and 178,965 – 94,719 males and 84,246 females – in PS 111. The turnout in the July 25 elections was recorded at 40 per cent for the NA seat and 42 per cent for the PS seat.

Among the total 12 contestants in NA-247, Sadiq Iftikhar belongs to the MQM-P, Qasir Nizamani to the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Arshad Vohra, who is also the deputy mayor of Karachi, to the Pak Sarzameen Party. The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek has withdrawn its candidate in favour of the PTI. The rest of the candidates are independent.

For PS-111, of the 16 candidates, Jehanzeb Mughal belongs to the MQM-P, Sikander Agar to the TLP, Fayyaz Pirzada to the PPP and Yasir Uddin Siddiqui to the PSP.

TLP calls by-polls a ‘farce’

Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan has asked its voters and supporters to refrain from the by-election in NA-247, saying “it’s all a farce.” The Khadim Hussain Rizvi-led party had claimed second position in the polling here on July 25 when it had bagged 11.4 per cent of the 219,037 votes cast.

Speaking to a meeting of the party’s local Majlis-e-Shoora on Friday, TLP Karachi president Razi Hussaini commented that the by-polls seemed a fraud because the Election Commission of Pakistan declining the TLP candidate’s nomination tried to ensure the win of the ruling PTI here.

Alvi had won this constituency for the second consecutive time with 42 per cent of votes. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement -Pakistan and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal had secured the third and fourth spots respectively.