NA-254: Religious parties hoping to break MQM’s two-decade winning streak

In 2008, MQM won the seat with 132,648 votes. Its closest rival, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz only got 4,965 votes.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has been sweeping the NA-254 seat since the first elections it contested in 1988, but the newcomers are hoping to break the winning streak.

In 2008, MQM won the seat with 132,648 votes and its closest rival, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz only managed 4,965 votes. The ethnic distribution of more than 300,000 registered voters also makes the constituency interesting. While majority of the people are Urdu-speaking, there are pockets of Punjabi, Pashtun, Seraiki-speaking, Hazara, Bengali and Burmese residents. “Attempts to play the ethnic card in the past have failed,” said a political observer. “These are mostly poor people who are more worried about their daily earnings than to align themselves with any political force,” he added.

Even fragmented communities, such as the Christians, have always voted for the MQM. “There are 22,500 registered Christian voters and their vote could be a decisive factor,” said Naseer Gill, a social worker from the area. “But no one has tried to woo them yet.”

In the upcoming general elections, the MQM has fielded Shaikh Muhammad Afzal for the seat but Jamiat-e-Ulema Pakistan’s (JUP) Allama Rajab Naeemi is hoping to put a dent in the vote bank through religious sermons attended by party loyalists.

A joint candidate of the 10-party alliance formed in Sindh against the MQM and the Pakistan Peoples Party, Naeemi has the support of the PML-N, Pakistan Muslim League - Functional, Jamaat-e-Islami and the nationalist parties. “There are more than 120 seminaries and over 150 mosques in this constituency and we have thousands of followers,” he said. “All of them will vote for us if there are free and fair elections.”

Korangi is home to thousands of factory workers, who work in its industrial estate and cannot afford private education for their children. This gap is filled by the numerous seminaries that have mushroomed in recent years. Darul Uloom Amjadiya, one of the four seminaries in the city registered to declare fatwas on property and social issues is also located here.

The neighbourhood has seen a surge in sectarian attacks as well, which led to a significant decline in the number of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat supporters. But the party may support the JUP, which enjoys significant Barelvi vote bank in the area. “Before MQM’s arrival, this was JUP’s constituency,” claimed Naeemi. “I don’t know if I’ll win, but I know one thing for sure that we will give MQM a tough time.” The Awami National Party fielded Sadiq Zaman Khattak from this constituency but he was shot dead in Korangi’s Bilal Colony on Friday afternoon.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2013.