TM Khan, Badin: Public holiday announced for by-elections for two seats next Saturday

Official numbers of registered voters has gone down.

HYDERABAD:

More than 200,000 people are expected to cast votes in the upcoming by-elections for the Sindh Assembly (SA) seats in Badin and Tando Muhammad Khan districts.

The election commissioner, Sono Khan Baloch, asked the Hyderabad division commissioner, Ahmed Baksh Narejo, to announce a public holiday on February 25 and impose section 144 in both constituencies.

Baloch told the media on Saturday that the PS-53 constituency in Tando Muhammad Khan has 113,000 registered voters, which has been on a decline from the 143,000 voters in the 2008 general elections. The number of voters has also decreased in the PS-57 Tando Bago constituency in the Badin district by over 20,000.  The National Database and Registration Authority will release a new voter list on February 24, a day before the by-polls.

Eighteen candidates will contest the elections in PS-57 along with barrister Hussain Mirza, the son of former home minister, Zulfiqar Mirza. Hussain and the Pakistan Muslim League-like minded group’s nominee Syed Ali Baksh Shah, alias Pappu Shah, are considered the top contestants. Pappu Shah has, however, gone to court to fight for a stay order on the by-election for the Badin seat given up by Zulfiqar Mirza because of faulty voter lists. On Friday, the Sindh High Court put these candidates and the election commission on notice for February 21 in Pappu Shah’s constitutional petition. His argument for a stay order relies on data of millions of fake voters provided to the Supreme Court by the election commission and the National Database and Registration Authority. This is the subject of another petition being heard in the apex court.

Eleven candidates will stand in the by-polls in PS-53, Tando Muhammad Khan. The seat fell vacant after the death of MPA Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari on January 14.

The Pakistan Peoples Party has filed the nominations of Bukhari’s widow Syed Wahida Shah Bukhari, along with other members of his family, including Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari, Syed Irshad Shah Bukhari, and Fazal Ahmed Nizamani. All except one are expected to withdraw their nomination before the constituency goes to the polls.

In the opposition are Mir Mushtak Ali Talpur, Sarfaraz Ahmed Bhatti, Mir Khalid Hussain Talpur, Mir Lutf Ali Talpur and Niaz Ali Almani who have filed their papers on the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) and National Peoples Party tickets. Muhammad Saleem Samo and Amir Khan Zardari are two independent candidates.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2012.