The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has finalised its candidates for three National Assembly seats and six Sindh Assembly seats in Hyderabad, reintroducing three former legislators and introducing six new faces.
Former MNAs Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani and Syed Waseem Hussain, along with ex-MPA Nasir Qureshi, have secured the party tickets.
Hussain will contest from NA-219, a City taluka-based constituency, while Qaimkhani and Qureshi will enter the electoral race from PS-62 and PS-65, respectively.
The other two constituencies that elected MQM-P lawmakers in Hyderabad in 2018 are NA-220 and PS-64. Abdul Aleem Khanzada, former Chairman of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Mirpurkhas, has been nominated for the former, and Rashid Khan, an ex-UC Chairman from Haider Chowk locality, for the latter.
Read: ‘MQM-P afraid of reaching out to voters’
Previously, the name of former MPA advocate Dilawar Qureshi was circulating for NA-220. The candidates for the remaining constituencies, including NA-218, PS-60, PS-61, and PS-63, are Naseem Akhtar, Sajid Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed Rajput, and Kamran Shafiqur. Akhtar is the wife of former MPA Rashid Khilji, while Rajput is an office bearer of the Poultry Association.
They are expected to face a formidable challenge on those seats from Pakistan Peoples Party candidates, including Syed Tariq Ali Shah Jamote, Jam Khan Shoro, Sharjeel Inam Memon, and Jabbar Khan. All these candidates secured victory in those four seats in 2018.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 14th, 2024.
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