Family seat: Makhdooms of Hala set to continue their hold on NA-218

Brother of late PPPP president expected to easily win today's by-polls.

HYDERABAD: Voters of the NA-218 constituency of Matiari are set to ensure the twelfth consecutive victory of Makhdooms of Hala on Monday (today).

The by-polls are being held on the seat of late Makhdoom Amin Fahim, president of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Parliamentarians.

Fahim's brother Makhdoom Saeeduz Zaman, a former MPA from Tharparkar, is running for the seat on the PPP's ticket. Voters of the constituency had elected his brother seven times and father, Makhdoom Muhammad Zaman Talibul Maula, four times.

According to the district election commission, over 308,000 people are registered to vote in some 263 polling stations, including 60 very sensitive and 103 sensitive ones. DIG Hyderabad Khadim Hussain Rind informed a press conference in Matiari that 2,400 policemen and 300 Rangers personnel will be deployed during the by-polls.

Abdul Razzak Memon of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), who received 72,423 votes against 95,724 of Fahim in the 2013 general elections, has exited the contest this time around. In his place his son, Abdul Nasir Memon, is a contender in the by-election but in the capacity of an independent candidate.

The three parties, PML-F, PML-Nawaz and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, which enjoy support in the district besides the PPP, are supporting Zaman. The pir of Bhit Shah Syed Waqar Hussain Shah and other influential political figures like Muhammad Ali Shah Jamote, Raees Ali Ahmed Nizamani and Nazeer Rahu are also backing the PPP candidate.

Interestingly, all these groups had thrown their weight behind Memon in the May elections.

The opposition

In the absence of the local heavyweights, Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) and Sindh National Tehreek (SNT) have pitched their candidates for the by-polls.

Allama Raja Abbas Nasir, general secretary of the MWM, at a press conference in Hyderabad on Saturday, made allegations of rigging.

"The government institutions are acting like servants of the Makhdoom family. An environment of political harassment has been created," he said. SNT leader Ashraf Noonari, a candidate for NA-218, recently wrote to the Election Commission of Pakistan seeking disqualification of Zaman under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution.  "He [Zaman] has written books which spread religious and sectarian hatred. He is trying to spread extremist tendencies," he alleged, while also leveling charges of rigging.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2016.