A guide to the PS-114 Karachi showdown

As by-election nears, The Express Tribune explores the constituency

KARACHI: The roads are once again decorated with colourful flags and buntings. Reds, greens, blacks and whites adorn the buildings and poles of PS-114 as sewage water pools on dilapidated roads. Posters and flags bearing arrows, cricket bats, tigers and kites are a few of the symbols pasted on the walls and hanging from poles in the area.
The residents of Mehmoodabad, Akhtar Colony, Chanesar Goth, Manzoor Colony, Azam Basti and Defence View are all set to elect their new representative in the Sindh Assembly on July 9.



The city is going to witness its eleventh by-election since the general elections of 2013, as it has already had six by-elections for provincial assembly seats and four on National Assembly seats.
Of these by-elections, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) won five, while the remaining two were won by the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party.
The next general election will be held next year, a fact that Karachi's political parties have not forgotten. In fact, the upcoming general election in 2018 has turned PS-114 into a battleground, with candidates holding corner meetings and campaigning even before filing their nomination papers.
The by-election is being held after the victory of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz's Irfanullah Marwat was declared void by the election tribunal in July, 2014 after the runner-up, MQM's Rauf Siddiqui challenged the result, alleging that the polls were rigged.
Marwat won the election with 37,130 votes, while runner-up Siddiqui secured 30,305 votes. In the 2008 general elections their roles were reversed, as Marwat was runner-up with 22,043 votes and Siddiqui managed to secure a narrow victory with 22,840 votes.



Know thy people
The constituency, situated in Karachi's District East, is both ethnically and religiously diverse. With so many communities living in one area, no political party can claim the constituency as its stronghold.
The area is also the National Assembly's NA-251constituency, which was won by MQM leader Syed Ali Raza Abidi in the 2013 general election with 81,603 votes. The other provincial constituency in NA-251 is PS-115, which was won by the MQM in the by-election in April, 2016 after former MPA Arshad Vohra was appointed deputy mayor.
The parties are focusing on gaining the support of all 185,179 registered voters of the constituency, of which 77,496 voters are female and 107,679 are male.
Stepping into PS-114 is like stepping into a mini Pakistan - people from all over the country have settled in the area. This includes Sindhis, Baloch, Saraikis, Punjabis, Pakhtuns and Urdu-speaking people.
The area is not only diverse ethnically but also boasts a wide variety of religious groups. The Christian community makes up more than 23% of the registered votes, with 25,000 residents and the Hindu community has another few thousand voters in the area.



According to the data provided on the website of Election Commission of Pakistan, 89,225 votes were polled in the constituency in the 2013 general elections, out of which 87, 122 were considered valid.
The peaceful diversity of the area is illustrated by its residents' diverse political beliefs. If a street in PS-114 has 15 houses, the residents of each house are seen supporting different parties.
We are upset with our choices in the past, said Arsalan Ahmed, a resident of Defence View. He said no elected official had ever focused on developing the area. We face a severe water shortage and the little water that is available to us is contaminated, he told The Express Tribune. Broken sewerage lines, and dilapidated roads depict the neglect our area has suffered, he said.
A resident of Manzoor Colony, Kamran Brohi, said that the main problem is that in the past their elected representatives were not residents of the area they were representing and therefore failed to understand the issues being faced by their constituents.



"If I am not wrong, there is no girls' school in the constituency, which is surprising, as it is an urban constituency not a rural one," he said. We, as voters of the area, should opt for a candidate from a different party this year, as our past choices disappointed us, said Brohi.
So far, the PPP has nominated Senator Saeed Ghani, who is a resident of Chanesar Goth as their candidate, while the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has nominated founding member Najeeb Haroon. The MQM has fielded Kamran Tessori.