Tough contest: Hundreds vie for assembly seats in Hyderabad

Uncertainty in MQM-P camp as candidates' fates remain uncertain after split

HYDERABAD: The upcoming general elections will see a fierce contest in Hyderabad with as many as 338 forms having been submitted by the deadline, for the three constituencies of National Assembly and six of the Sindh Assembly. A total of 1,064 forms were issued by the returning officers since the exercise began eight days ago on June 4.

While the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has split into two factions, besides losing its many legislators to the Pak Sarzameen Party, the Pakistan Peoples Party has retained its winning candidates in Hyderabad. Former MNA Ameer Ali Shah Jamote's son Syed Hussain Tariq Jamote, former MPA Sharjeel Inam Memon and former MPA Jam Khan Shoro have filed nominations from the same constituency which they won in 2013.

For the remaining two constituencies of NA and four of PS, the PPP's Ali Muhammad Sahito (NA 226), Dr Irfan Gul Magsi (NA 227), Abdul Jabbar Khan (PS 64), Saleem Arain (PS 65), Mukhtiar Ahmed Dhamrah (PS 66) and Muhammad Sagheer Qureshi (PS 67) have submitted the forms. However, all of these constituencies, which are based in City and Latifabad talukas of Hyderabad, have historically gone with the MQM.



MQM-Pakistan's four MPAs and two MNAs, who were elected in 2013, joined the Dr Farooq Sattar led PIB group after the party split into two factions. Although all of them have filed nomination papers, mostly from the same constituencies, their fate of contesting on MQM-P's tickets will now be decided by MQM-Bahadurabad group.

On March 26, Election Commission of Pakistan gave a ruling in favour of Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, removing Sattar from the position of convener of MQM-P.

"Both the groups are negotiating. We all know if we split up and field separate candidates, the chances are that we may lose our constituencies. We hope there will be a consensus [in the two groups] and joint candidates will be selected," a former MPA from Hyderabad told The Express Tribune. He believed that the prevailing ambiguity will settle down in a few days.



Former Hyderabad Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil, who belongs to the MQM-Bahadurabad group, Zafar Rajput, former MNA Salahuddin, Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, advocate Aslam Pervez, Abdul Qadir and Yonus Khan are among some of the prominent politicians from factions of the MQM-P who have filed nominations.

Meanwhile, nationalist leaders including Ayaz Latif Palijo, Dr Qadir Magsi, Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and journalist Ali Qazi, leader of Tabdeeli Pasand Party, have also filed their nomination papers from Hyderabad. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal has also fielded its candidates in all district constituencies.

As many as 1,049,586 people are registered to vote in Hyderabad.