Baldia Town to choose a representative for NA-249 today

Karachi is all set to host the much-awaited by-election for the NA-249 (West-II) constituency, which encompasses Baldia Town, on Thursday (today). Candidates representing Pakistan’s major political parties are expected to give one another a good run for their money in what essentially seems to be nothing less than a showdown.

The crucial National Assembly seat had fallen vacant after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Faisal Vawda resigned following the casting of his vote in the Senate elections in March.

2018 elections

The 2018 general elections had seen a close contest in NA-249, with Vawda securing 35,344 votes to defeat the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) candidate and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif, who had polled 34,626 votes.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s (TLP) Mufti Abid Mubarak and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Aslam Shah had ranked third and fourth after bagging 23,981 and 13,534 votes respectively.

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Syed Ataullah Shah had ranked fifth by securing 10,307 votes, while the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Qadir Mandokhel had polled a mere 7,236 votes to rank sixth in the competition.

Multifaceted contest

Unlike many other constituencies in Karachi, it is difficult to predict a clear winner of the by-election for NA-249. However, most of the political analysts believe that the actual fight will again be between three major contestants: the PML-N, the PTI and the TLP.

Meanwhile, the MQM-P, the PPP and the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) have also emerged as key competitors by intensifying their respective election campaigns in the run-up to the by-poll.

The PML-N has fielded Miftah Ismail, former finance minister and the party’s provincial general secretary, for the by-election, and managed to secure the support of the Awami National Party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan. The PTI has fielded its district president Amjad Afridi, while the TLP has fielded Mufti Nazeer Kamalvi.

Mustafa Kamal, former city mayor and the PSP chief, is also in the electoral fray, while the MQM-P has fielded Mursaleem Ahmed for the by-poll. The PPP has again fielded Mandokhel, and succeeded in gaining the support of the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen.

The TLP, however, is facing an internal crisis as one of its key leaders, Maulana Ahmed Bilal Qadri, has been independently contesting against the party’s nominated candidate. He is a former TLP candidate for the NA-248 constituency comprising Lyari and son of the Sunni Tehreek’s slain founder Saleem Qadri.

Demography

NA-249 has a population of 782,776, of which only 339,591 (over 43 per cent) are registered to vote. There are 201,656 (over 59 per cent) male voters in the area, while the number of female voters is 137,935.

Ittehad Town, Saeedabad, Mominabad, Swat Colony, Afridi Colony, Qaimkhani Colony, Delhi Colony, Mujahid Colony, Rasheedabad, Turk Colony, Junagarh Muhallah, Kokan Colony and other areas of Baldia Town are included in the constituency, which is divided ethnically between Punjabis, Pashtuns, Hazarewal and an Urdu-speaking population. It also has

a fairly strong religious vote bank.