MQM-P opts out of by-polls race

Party agrees to PM’s request to not participate in elections

KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Rabita (Coordination) Committee has unanimously decided not to contest the upcoming by-elections, Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui confirmed on Sunday.

According to sources, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had contacted the MQM-P on February 16 in connection with the by-elections for nine National Assembly seats in Karachi.

The premier had requested the party not to participate in the by-elections in view of the country’s economic crisis. The party’s coordination committee discussed the matter for two days before announcing its final decision.

During the huddle, all members of the committee agreed that the country was facing financial problems. The sources said the members were of the view that contesting the by-elections in the existing circumstances would not be a wise move.

The nine seats fell vacant after the resignation of PTI MNAs. The by-elections would be held for NA-241 (Korangi, Karachi-III), NA-242 (Karachi East-I), NA-243 (Karachi East-II), NA-244 (Karachi East-III), NA-247 (Karachi South-II), NA-250 (Karachi West-III, NA-252 (Karachi West-V), NA-254 (Karachi Central-II) and NA-256 (Karachi Central-IV).

Over 20 candidates of different political parties have already filed their nomination papers for these elections. They included PTI’s Aftab Siddiqi, MQM-P’s Sheikh Salahuddin and Fayyaz Alam, and PPP’s Sohail Mansoor.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers was supposed to be carried out till February 13, followed by the publication of a revised list of candidates on February 21. The final list of candidates is scheduled to be issued on the next day.

A total of 123 PTI MNAs had resigned en masse on April 11 last year – two days after the party chairman, Imran Khan, was ousted as the prime minister through a no-confidence motion.

In July 2022, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf accepted the resignations of 11 PTI members.

After dragging feet over the process for eight months, the NA speaker accepted the resignations of 34 PTI MNAs on January 17 and 35 MNAs on January 20, including that of Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid.

On January 25, the ECP de-notified 43 more PTI lawmakers after Ashraf accepted their resignations.