NA-249 by-election: What makes voters choose PTI, PML-N, PSP?

ISLAMABAD: The much-anticipated by-election in Karachi's NA-249 constituency is just a day away, with major political parties fielding their candidates in the race. Ahead of the polls, surveys were carried out by Gallup Pakistan and Pulse Consultant to determine what factors voters base their vote on.

More than 2,600 registered voters participated in survey, carried out from April 10 to 20, Geo News reported In the Gallup survey, 38 percent of the people said they will vote for PMLN due to its development works, 35 percent believed it was a good party, 34 percent voted because it helps the poor, while 29 percent said the party had curbed terrorism.

Of the respondents to the Pulse Consultant poll, 33 percent said they preferred PMLN as it had controlled inflation, 22 percent liked the work done previously, 7 percent said the party provided employment, 5 percent said they liked the leader, while only 3 percent said the party had worked for the improvement of the country.

Meanwhile, in the Gallup survey, 35 percent opted for PTI as they believed it was a good political party, 34 percent said it had a good leader, 31 percent said it was a reliable party, and 31 percent said it was credible.

Additionally, 26 percent chose the party as they backed it’s ideology, 26 percent liked its steps against corruption, 26 percent its development work, 25 percent thought it helped the poor, 19 percent wanted to give it a chance, while 15 percent said it had controlled terrorism. Among the respondents to the Pulse Consultant survey, 22 percent said PTI had improved the country, 20 percent said it would bring improvement, 16 percent just liked the leader, 12 percent liked the party, 10 percent hoped it would bring a good future, 8 percent backed its measures against corruption, 6 percent said they liked that the party is against thieves.

Of the respondents to the Pulse Consultant survey that said they prefer PSP, 44 percent said they like it due to the party’s development works. Eighteen percent hoped for improvement by voting for the party, 11 percent believed PSP was aware of Karachi’s problems, 9 percent trusted the party, 8 percent cited its past work, 7 percent said it solves problems, 6 percent liked the party’s leader, 5 percent liked the party and the same percentage of the people said they would vote for PSP as it was a new party.