Syeda Wahida Mohsin Bukhari, the widow of Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari, is now the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate for the by-elections in the PS-53 constituency of Tando Muhammad Khan.
This was announced by federal minister for water and power, Syed Naveed Qamar, who was elected to the National Assembly from the same area.
The party’s decision comes after a family dispute over political succession was reportedly resolved. Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari, the district vice president of the PPP and the cousin of the late MPA, Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari, was a claimant for the party ticket which led to a rift in the family.
“The decision was made by the party’s parliamentary board,” Naveed Qamar informed the media in Tando Muhammad Khan on Sunday. “The PPP is a democratic party and it respects the wishes of its workers but the board takes decisions on merit,” he said in an obvious reference to the claim laid by Aijaz Shah.
The PPP had originally planned to name Aijaz from this constituency, but last week the local ladies wing of the party had staged a demonstration, demanding the party ticket for Syeda Wahida who is undergoing her Iddat (waiting period after a husband’s death).
The Sindh Assembly seat fell vacant after the death of Mohsin Shah Bukhari on January 13. He was elected an MPA five times on the PPP ticket. The by-elections are scheduled for February 25 while the nomination papers will be accepted till February 7.
Except for the PPP, no other political party has nominated a candidate. Only one day is left to file nominations. Mir Ali Nawaz Talpur of the National Peoples Party, who won the 2002 elections from the same constituency on the Pakistan Muslim League-Q ticket, is a prospective candidate but he says that his name has yet to be finalised.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2012.
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