Parties field 44 females for 47 PS, 22 NA seats

A total of 47 registered parties have given tickets to 24 women to contest on 47 seats of the Sindh Assembly and fielded 20 candidates for 22 seats of the National Assembly while there are a total of 4,183,420 female voters in Karachi.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has not fielded any female candidate for the general seat of National or Sindh Assembly from Karachi. However, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) has nominated a female candidate for one provincial seat from Karachi.

MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) has given ticket to female candidates on two seats of National Assembly and one seat of Provincial Assembly. PPP has women candidates on one seat of National Assembly and four seats of Sindh Assembly in Karachi. Muslim League (N) has given tickets to five women candidates for National Assembly seats and four women candidates for provincial assembly seats in Karachi.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has not nominated a woman candidate from Karachi on any general seat, while there are four women candidates on national and provincial seats from Karachi on the Central Muslim League ticket.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) claims that they are popular among women voters, but PTI has not supported any female candidate for any National Assembly seat from Karachi, but has announced the support for women candidates on two provincial seats.

It should be noted that 4,183,420 women voters have the right to vote in Karachi. Among the 499 candidates of political parties on 47 seats of Sindh Assembly in Karachi, only 24 are women. In the 22 seats of the National Assembly, 20 women are on party tickets while 28 women are present as independent candidates.

There are no female candidates from independent or political parties for PS-88, 89 in Malir and PS-90 in Korangi. Most of the women candidates nominated for general seats have been given tickets by political parties from constituencies where they have no influence and women were nominated only to fulfill the Election Commission's requirements.

Read: ECP urged to ensure women’s share

The political parties supporting female candidates on general seats are not seen to conducting election campaigns seriously, however, in other constituencies, their male candidates are actively campaigning.

In NA-229 Karachi Malir, MQM has neither any influence nor conducted any election campaign for party's candidate, Fauzia Hameed. There is an alliance of MQM and Muslim League (N) on the PS-87 seat. Their female candidate Kiran Masood has been nominated to fulfill the restriction of giving five per cent tickets to women.

Nida Asim of PPP on National Assembly seat NA-233 from Korangi and Dr. Shabnam are also doing limited election activities compared to other candidates.

MQM's Asia Ishaq is the key candidate for National Assembly seat NA-232 in Karachi and is running a vigorous election campaign. Shahida Rahmani and Shamim Mumtaz, candidates of PPP for the provincial seats in Gharbi, are also active in the election activities in their constituencies.

Muslim League (N) has also fulfilled the requirement of five per cent restriction of nominating women candidates in the constituencies of Karachi, where their influence is less or they have weak constituencies in terms of elections.

On PS-105, the PML-N is supporting the GDA and fielded a woman candidate just for the sake of formality in this constituency.

There are many constituencies in Karachi where the rate of female vote casting can be a major factor in the success or failure of a candidate, but some parties have not fielded any female candidates for general seats.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23^rd, 2024.