With the name of one contesting candidate missing from the voter list and another not canvassing, voters in Badin and Tando Muhammad Khan will cast their ballots in the by-elections for Sindh Assembly seats on Saturday (today).
In Badin’s PS-57 Tando Bago, nearly 97,479 people including 42,085 women are registered to vote while 113,812 people including 51,192 women are registered to vote in the PS-53 constituency of Tando Muhammad Khan. Around 115 polling stations and 272 polling booths were set up in PS-57 with a presiding officer at each station and an assistant presiding officer on each booth. Out of the 102 polling stations in PS-53, 32 were set up in Hyderabad rural taluka which shares the district boundary with Tando Muhammad Khan. The stations will have 286 polling booths and the number of presiding and assistant presiding officers correspond to the stations and booths.
“Fifteen polling stations were declared very sensitive,” said the senior superintendent of the Tando Muhammad Khan police station, Muhammad Ali Baloch at a press conference on Thursday. “Around 800 policemen, 95 policewomen and Rangers will be monitoring the area.”
According to Karim Dino Nohrio, an independent candidate from PS-57, the voters list did not have his name. In the 2002 general elections, he claimed, he was a registered voter.
Meet the candidates
The Badin seat fell vacant after former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza resigned while the PS-53 seat was unoccupied after MPA Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari passed away. Both men were members of the provincial assembly and were from the Pakistan Peoples Party whose candidates now appear to be the top favourites in the by-elections but with at least one serious challenger in each constituency. The PPP’s Hasnain Mirza is standing against Syed Ali Bux Shah alias Pappu Shah in Badin. Shah is an independent candidate backed by the former chief minister of Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Rahim. In PS-53, Bukhari’s widow Syeda Wahida Mohsin Bukhari is contesting against Mir Mushtaq Ali Talpur, an independent candidate. There are 19 candidates contesting for the PS-57 and 13 for the PS-53 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement have also fielded their candidates while the PML-likeminded is supporting Pappu Shah and Mir Khalid Talpur.
Shah had sought an injunction from the Sindh High Court against the by-elections in the PS-57 constituency by claiming that the electoral rolls were filled with bogus entries. However, his petition was rejected. The likeminded group-backed independent candidate had won from the same constituency in 2002 – but as a PML-Quaid (PML-Q) candidate. However, he was defeated in the 2008 elections by Zulfiqar Mirza. The likeminded group’s candidate Saen Bux Jamali, a landlord, withdrew his nomination forms in favour of Shah. During the last election Zulfiqar Mirza polled 33,111 votes against 13,853 votes of Pappo Shah. The former home minister has been quite active in the election campaign for his son, Hasnain, who is most likely to win even though Pappu Shah is considered a strong candidate for PS-57. The other 17 candidates have filed nomination papers as a formality to represent their parties in the constituency.
In the general elections during 1988 to 1997, the seat remained with the PPP.
In PS-53 Tando Muhammad Khan, Bukhari’s widow is one of the promising candidates, although she has not been canvassing much because she is still in Iddat (mourning period). However, she did go to the office of the returning officer to submit her nomination papers.
Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari, Syed Irshad Shah Bukhari and Raees Fazl Nizamani are three candidates covering for Wahida and will withdraw in her favour. While Mir Mushtaq Ali Talpur will be covered by Dr Lutf Ali Talpur, Mir Khalid Talpur, Niaz Almani and Sarfaraz Bhatti. Except for the PPP, no other political party has a candidate in the constituency. In PS-53, Ghazi Salahuddin is the MQM candidate and Mir Manzoor Ali Talpur is the PML-N candidate.
With additional reporting by Hafeez Tunio
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.
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