Electioneering for crucial NA-249 by-poll gaining momentum

The major political parties of Karachi who have fielded their candidates for the important NA-249 by-poll have intensified their respective election campaigns in the constituency.

Balloting will be held on April 29 to elect the public representative of the constituency. The National Assembly seat had fallen vacant due to federal minister Faisal Vawda of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resigning after casting his vote in the Senate elections.

PML-N

To woo Pashtun voters in the constituency, the central leadership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has tasked the party’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Amir Muqam to help their candidate Miftah Ismail in his election campaign for NA-249.

On Saturday evening Muqam and the party’s Sindh leaders spoke to a rally in Swat Colony, a Pashtun-dominated neighbourhood in the constituency, asking the residents to vote for Ismail.

Earlier in the day, addressing the media on his arrival at the Karachi airport, Muqam had said people hailing from all over Pakistan live in Karachi.

“The residents of Karachi are educated and conscious, and they know that the PML-N during its government had worked for bringing peace back in the city.”

He said the PML-N candidate Ismail will win the NA-249 by-poll with a great margin. “Our leader Shahbaz Sharif had also won the consistency in the 2018 general elections with a great margin, but the election was rigged and the people’s mandate stolen.”

He also said the PML-N will continue its campaign against the anti-people government, adding that the history of the Pakistan Democratic Movement is the history of Pakistan, and that the alliance will die only after removing the present government.

PTI

Leaders of the PTI’s Karachi chapter visited different neighbourhoods of NA-249 to help their candidate Amjad Afridi’s electioneering. PTI Karachi President Khurrum Sher Zaman, General Secretary Saeed Afridi and other leaders met the localities’ notables, asking them for votes for the party’s candidate.

Zaman said the PTI will retain the seat after winning it with a great margin. “The PTI’s victory in NA-249 is certain, and the guarantees of the opponents will be confiscated.”

He said Karachi is a city of PTI and Prime Minister Imran Khan fans. “We have the full confidence of the people of the constituency. We have nominated local and young PTI leaders of the constituency as party candidates.”

PSP

Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal, who is also contesting the NA-249 by-poll, said forcible eviction of thousands of families living for decades along the major canals and storm water drains of Karachi without providing them with any alternative shelter is not only cruel but also a violation of human rights.

He was addressing a large public gathering as part of electioneering for NA-249. “Those whose houses are being demolished will not dissipate in thin air. Incompetent and tyrant rulers are merely shifting problems from one place and spreading it throughout the city, which will create serious law and order problems.”

He also said the state is like a mother, and a mother does not leave her weak children helpless, adding that it is not like the present government has no prior example.

“During my mayorship, with the help of the judiciary and the state, alternative land was provided to the affected people before demolishing 34,000 houses for the construction of the Lyari Expressway, and then the project was executed.”

MWM

The Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) candidate for the NA-249 by-poll, Allama Mubashir Hassan Zaidi, said people will hold those candidates accountable through the by-election who had turned away from them after winning the last ballot.

He said now the time of fooling people with grand promises has come to an end, adding that the residents of Baldia Town and Saeedabad continue to remain deprived of the basic amenities.

“Now they believe in practical steps instead of promises. That is why the MWM has personally done extraordinary work for the welfare of the people without considering success in politics as a goal,” he said while visiting different areas with the local notables.

Besides visiting different localities in the constituency, he also met with important personalities, as well as the people of the areas, all of whom assured the party of their complete support.

The MWM candidate said people have lost confidence in the traditional slogans. “There is no need to again test those who have made false promises to the people in the past. If we are given the opportunity to serve the people, the locals will never face disappointment.”