Sanghar by-elections: Late MPA’s son might carry on his father’s legacy

His two competitors seem to be new to electoral politics.

HYDERABAD: The son of the late MPA Abdul Salam Thahim appears set to romp home in the by-elections for PS-83 in the Sanghar district.

The seat fell vacant on April 22 after the demise of the late MPA who was elected thrice from here –the Shahdadpur taluka.

Former union council nazim, Shahid Khan Thahim, is 39 years old and a bachelors in civil engineering. He is the second son of the late Salam Thahim. He will contest the elections on a ticket of Pakistan Peoples Party. His two competitors are – 35-year-old Rafique Jakhro of Awami Tehreek and 55-year-old Tehseen Zaban, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf supporter, who is contesting as an independent candidate.

Both Jakhro and Zaban seem to be relatively new to electoral politics. Jakhro entered politics through Sindhi Shagird Tehreek (students movement), while Zaban began via Islami Jamiat Taliba. Zaban is also the president of a local traders’ association and will contest the election for the first time this year. Meanwhile the candidates of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) and other independent candidates withdrew in support of Shahid Thaheem.

Meanwhile, Justice Shakirullah Jan, the acting chief of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), visited the constituency on Sunday. He was accompanied by an ECP member, Muhammad Roshan Esani, chief commissioner of ECP Sindh, Sono Khan Baloch, ECP secretary Justice (Retd) Syed Shabir Aksi. All of them expressed their satisfaction over the arrangements.

More than 116,000 people are eligible to cast their votes while 93 polling stations have been set up in the district. ECP Sindh’s chief commissioner said that 25 polling stations were declared to be sensitive. At least 1,600 policemen will be deployed in the district. The late Abdul Salam Thahim bagged 30,542 votes in the last general elections. Mahi Khan Wassa of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional was the runner up with 22,631 votes.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled "Thamim" as "Thaeem". A correction has been made.

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