The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said on Wednesday that it had received 189 nomination papers for the nine National Assembly seats on which by-elections will take place in Karachi on March 16.
From the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Mustafa Kamal, Dr Farooq Sattar, Dr Sagheer Ahmed and Rauf Siddiqui submitted the forms. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Ali Haider Zaidi, Saifur Rehman, Attaullah, Aslam Khan, Najeeb Haroon, Aftab Jahangir and Alamgir Khan submitted their papers.
From the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Shehla Raza, Shahida Rehmani, Iqbal Sandh, Asad Alam Niazi and Khawaja Sohail are prominent candidates.
Various other political parties and independent candidates will also contest in the by-elections.
According to the ECP, 24 candidates filed nominations papers in NA-241, 19 in NA 242, 17 in NA-243, 19 in NA-244, 24 in NA-247, 19 in NA-250, 24 in NA-252, 23 in NA-254, and 19 nominations papers were received in NA-256.
As per the schedule, the list of candidates will be released on February 9. The documents will be examined till February 13, and objections can be submitted against the acceptance or rejection of the nomination papers till February 16.
The deadline for decisions on these objections is set as February 20. The revised list of candidates will be released on February 21.
Candidates can withdraw their nomination papers till February 22. Election symbols will be allotted on February 23 and polling will be held on March 16.
Sparring outside the ECP
PPP's Shehla Raza and PTI's Ali Zaidi were involved in a light-hearted exchange outside the ECP office, with both leaders accusing the other of selling false hope to their supporters. They chastised each other for resorting to propaganda and duping the public.
Meanwhile, MQM-P leaders were gung-ho about reclaiming the seats that were won by the PTI in the 2018 general elections. Rauf Siddiqui remarked that the seats, won by the MQM-P in 2013, were gift-wrapped for the PTI. Dr Sattar said that the turnout would be much higher in the by-elections with the participation of the MQM-P. The turnout in the recently-held local body elections that the MQM-P boycotted was extremely poor. "Nearly 85 per cent of the vote bank supports us. That is why they boycotted the local government election," he said.
Mustafa Kamal, who filed papers for NA-247 and NA-256, said that Imran Khan and the PTI had failed the city who failed to reign in the PPP in Sindh.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2023.
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