PS-53 by-elections: Widow and cousin vie for PPP party ticket

Party’s ladies wing wants wife of late MPA to succeed him.

HYDERABAD: As the by-elections approach on the Sindh Assembly seat in Tando Muhammad Khan, which fell vacant after the death of Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari on January 13, a dispute has emerged between his widow and a cousin on who will stand. 

The local chapter of the ladies wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party conveyed the wish of Syeda Waheeda Mohsin Shah Bukhari, who is in the traditional iddat (or post-funeral waiting period), to contest the February 25 by-elections from the PS-53 constituency.

A few dozen workers of the ladies wing staged a demonstration on Monday outside the Tando Muhammad Khan Press Club. They demanded the party let the widow of the late MPA succeed him, citing the couples’ services for the party and the people. “The late Bukhari remained associated with the party in all the long years of its struggle. He was a courageous leader, always ready to help out the people,” said Sakeena Khaskheli, the women wing’s district president.

She was also full of praise for his wife and wanted to her to lead them in place of her husband. “This will also boost the morale of women workers of the party,” she said.

However, the other aspirant and a cousin of the late MPA, Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari, who is also the party’s district vice president, claims that he is best suited to take the place. He says he used to look after the matters of the party as well as the constituency when the late MPA was in Karachi.

According to him, the PPP has offered their family the party ticket. “Our family will decide who will contest the elections.”

Haji Ameen Lakho, the district president, was not available for comment but sources in the party say that Aijaz Shah Bukhari is most likely to be chosen. The late Bukhari was elected an MPA five times from his constituency since 1988, losing only once to Mir Ali Nawaz Talpur in the 2002 general elections.

Provincial Election Commissioner Sono Khan Baloch told The Express Tribune that the deadline for filing the nomination papers are February 6 and 7 while the final list of the candidates will be declared on February 16. The elections will be held on February 25 with the updated electoral rolls in light of the Supreme Court’s order, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2012.