PML-N sends its KP chief to help Miftah Ismail conduct NA-249 by-poll campaign

Eager to win the crucial NA-249 by-poll, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s central leadership is sending its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president, Amir Muqam, to help its candidate, Miftah Ismail, with his campaign for the electoral battle in the constituency, The News has learnt.

Ismail, who is also the PML-N Sindh secretary general and former federal minister, will be contesting the NA-249 by-poll slated for April 29. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader and federal minister Faisal Vawda resigned from the NA-249 seat after casting his vote in the Senate elections.

Muqam will arrive in Karachi today (Saturday) and speak to a public gathering in Swat Colony, a Pashtun-majority neighbourhood located in the constituency, to woo voters to support Ismail in the poll, according to Khwaja Tariq Nazeer, the PML-N Sindh’ s secretary information.

NA-249 is among the constituencies of Karachi that border Balochistan and is comprises the entire Baldia Town, including Pashtun, Hazarewal (Hindko) and Muhajir- populated neighbourhoods with a few Baloch and Sindhi villages.

Muqam is an influential politician in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and his participation in the election campaign in Pashtun neighborhoods in the constituency can help the PML-N candidate win by-poll, according to party leaders.

The last NA-249 election had been a close contest in the year 2018, with Vawda securing 35,344 votes to defeat PML-N candidate and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, who polled 34,626 votes.