PPP’s candidate for NA-249 by-poll has a history of changing parties and electoral failures

After failing in his last four consecutive attempts to win in the general elections during the past two decades, Abdul Qadir Mandokhel is trying his luck again this time as he has secured the ticket of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the much-hyped NA-249 by-election.

However, on the ground, local party workers and analysts believe that the PPP has fielded a candidate who has achieved notoriety for jumping ships and losing elections with high margins and cannot compete with strong candidates of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in the by-poll scheduled for April 29.

Mandokhel, who is a lawyer by profession, took part in the general elections for the first time in 2002 when he contested for provincial assembly constituency PS-89, which at that time comprised areas of Keamari and Mauripur. At that time, he was a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate and secured a mere 1,233 votes.

In 2008, Mandokhel contested the general elections from then National Assembly constituency NA-239 that comprised areas of Keamari and some parts of Baldia Town.

To woo the voters of the Bengali and Burmese communities in Macchar Colony and other localities, Mandokhel succeeded to gain the support of the Pakistan Muslim League-Sher Bengal (PML-SB) but managed only to bag 2,929 votes from the constituency.

The PML-SB, which had previously operated as the Pakistani Bengalis Charitable Association, was formed in March 2006.

Before the 2013 polls, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and filed his nomination papers to again contest NA-239. However, as the PML-N inked a seat adjustment agreement with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), the party asked Mandokhel to withdraw his nomination papers in favour of the JUI-F candidate.

Mandokhel did not accept the PML-N’s decision and refused to withdraw his nomination papers, after which the party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif through the party’s lawyer Arshad Jadoon informed an election tribunal that the party had not given Mandokhel its ticket to contest the polls. Due to this, the returning officer cancelled the allotment of the symbol of tiger to Mandokhel and gave him the symbol of cow instead. Mandokhel took part in the elections as an independent candidate and only bagged 612 votes.

In the 2018 general polls, Mandokhel managed to gain the PPP’s ticket for NA-249, a redrawn National Assembly constituency mainly comprising areas of Baldia Town. But despite having the ticket of a political party ruling the province for the past 10 years, he ranked sixth in the race by bagging over 7,000 votes.

The last NA-249 election was a close contest, in which PTI central leader Faisal Vawda secured 35,344 votes to defeat Shahbaz Sharif, the PML-N central president and former Punjab chief minister, who polled 34,626 votes.

This time, the PPP has again fielded Mandokhel for the upcoming by-poll in NA-249 after Vawda resigned from his National Assembly seat following his election to the Senate in March.

Some PPP leaders are, however, optimistic that the party would have better results in the by-election since the party has recently won several by-polls in the province, particularly the election in PS-88 District Malir that was held in February.

Waqar Mehdi, the PPP Sindh secretary general, said Mandokhel’s position in the NA-249 by-poll was good because the Sindh government was working on various projects, including a water supply project, in the area from special funds.

“The PPP will get a better public response in the by-election and chairs in rallies of rival political parties look empty,” Mehdi told the media at a press conference on Friday after he met leaders of the Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM). The PPP has requested the MWM to withdraw its candidate in favour of Mandokhel.

However, interviews with several PPP leaders in District West suggest that the party’s position is weak and it could face a humiliating defeat.

“Although the PPP has been trying to expand and strengthen itself in the city’s non-Sindhi and non-Baloch areas to increase its vote bank, gaining the lowest votes in the by-poll will be a blow to the morale of the workers in the consistency,” said a former district leader of the PPP in Baldia Town.

He added that the PML-N and PTI had taken the by-poll seriously and invited their central leaders from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to woo the Pashtun- and Hindko-speaking voters in the constituency.

“In such environment, Mandokhel could not compete with candidates of the PML-N and the PTI,” the PPP leader told The News.