JI announced that they will boycott the by-elections in Karachi, ANP plans to boycott throughout Sindh. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) announced they will boycott the upcoming by-elections on Sunday while Awami National Party (ANP) said they will withdraw their candidates in support of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
JI will boycott the by-elections in Karachi at polling stations PS95, PS103 and PS254, the JI spokesperson said.
ANP said that they will not field their own candidates in support of PPP in Sindh.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in a telephonic conversation with PPP leaders said on Sunday that if their conditions are not met, they will reject the by-elections.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to deploy army officials at all polling stations in Karachi during August 22 by-elections, sources told Express News on Sunday.
Army officials will be deployed inside and outside the polling stations of constituencies NA-254, PS-95 and PS-103. The decision was taken during an ECP meeting today in Islamabad but the final announcement will be made tomorrow.
The meeting was called by caretaker Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani to review internal arrangements of the electoral body for the by-polls.
By-elections in 42 constituencies will be held for 16 National Assembly and 26 provincial assembly constituencies. Most of these seats were vacated by members who had won from more than one constituency during May 11 general elections.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan had also called for army deployment during the by-polls to “ensure free and fair elections”.
Ballot papers
According to a report from the ECP, more than 10 million ballot papers have been released for the August 22 by-elections.
Ballot papers have been dispatched to 42 constituencies throughout the country, the report said.
COMMENTS (31)
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@Aysha M: Army was deployed in 93 and MQM boycotted just as in 2013 on NA250 and yet again MQM boycotted the election. But ppl like u are blind and don't know all this.
why army deployment only in karachi...will the election under the Army be fair? the party against whom operation was done 1992 is in the field,and the army did not allowed the party to contest for NA seats..in may 2013 Rangers were seen helping PTI candidates in NA250..there was massive rigging in 1990 when election was done under the supervision of army
JI basically withdrew in support of PTI. Birds of a feather
MQM should lose for not raising voice against the extension of quota system, and will for sure. Because the party has lost its credibility since the basic demands have far been forgotten and placed in dustbin. I am sure the stranded Pakistanis will never come to Pakistan since the efforts for their homecoming has long been given up. All the party now want is control over Karachi and Hyderabad local bodies so that the flow of funds may continue. Only Allah can save us mohajirs now from our so called friends and foes alike.
Jamat-e-Islami....should be renamed as.. boycott party...J.I can not fight the election b/c agencies support is for PTI
by the way, these people who now claims they own Karachi, where are they ? I have never heard of them on the issues Karachi faces! what are there participation ?? I have never seen them in our area for any social work !!
Whatever blame you put on MQM we still found them between us. They do help what ever in there reach.
But I never see this new claimed owners and representative in my area for any type of social work.The only thing they do is socialize on facebook thats it. If you even ask them where is municipality office or union council they behave like you are asking them about something happens in Mars
@Ayesha MQM got the mandate in 2002 under the shadows of General Pervaiz Mushrraf, in 2008 we can say they really won but what happened in 2013 is really shameful. People were not allowed to express the mandate. Countless online videos are available where bhais are forcing people to stamp a particular sign. Also stop this ethnicism based politics. It has damaged Pakistan more than anything else. Let Pakistan be open ground for everyone.
hope the better man wins .
Shows your mindset @bari:
Yes people of Karachi should indeed vote for the same parties they've been voting in as under their mandate Karachi has clearly become the ideal city of not only Pakistan but all over the world :)
According to FEFAN, there were many constituencies where there had been over 100% voting, is the Army deployed in all of those places
such actions are only spreading the seeds of discontent. why only in karachi? altaf huaaain is right. karachi shud be a separate country. we wud be much better off.
PTI will be missed because Boycott was its trademark.
i truly agreed with Aysha M here.so we will prove it on aug 22 to whom karachi belongs to
Karachi election are only possible in the presence of Army - else karachi mafia will stole the show again. real mandate and mafia, such a joke by mafia supporters.
@Truth_Prevails: Just enough of these allegations. Please understand that it is not possible for any political party to rig elections for 3 decades and try to remain fair despite political differences
@Aysha M: All power comes from the people and it's the people who must assert their power, powerful are not those who bulldoze their will on us even though if they seem, appear or believe so, the final say is, must and would be ours. We must assert our power and must decide what we wish and see that our wishes and will prevail. Go and vote and the army also witness that MQM is the true representative and guardian of the rights of the people here. Go and vote and force the shameless elites, the few, to shame.
@Truth_Prevails:
What proof you have ? I suggest you to live in reality not on FB. Karachi is no different then rest of pakistan. If media didn't focus on the rest it doesn't mean their is nothing wrong.After hostile coverage of election only in Karachi hardly/atmost they can prove 20 % rigging.
You are mango people without knowing anything starting giving fatwas like seeing a man supporting beard or women in hijaab and start calling them terrorist !
Why army in Karachi only? Until how long we people of karachi will be treated as 3rd class citizens of Pakistan and ruled like a colony??
@Aysha M: Yeah right. Almost all MQM seats were won by rigging. This doesnt mean that they wouldn't have won a few of them but what it means is that the whole MQM building is based on corrupt & criminal foundation.
@Informer: Gun Mafia :) People blame our media wrongly, they are doing decent job! brain washing and creating stereo type quite effectively.
They did against Karachi and now doing against Pakistan and people will see our next generation they will definitely have the same mindset as currently people have about karachi. They don't live and are unaware of city's dynamics but still they can speak against MQM.
There should be uniform rule for all not one rule for Altaf Hussain and another rule for Imran Khan. If army has to be deployed then it should be in all constituencies because rigging was done all over pakistan not only in karachi.
I mean you ppls dont count karachi out of Pakistan ;)
@Uza Syed: You are so right, Karachites know better than to vote for the likes of Asad Umers, Jahangir Tareens, who parachute into politics, or the Qureshis or the Makhdooms who hop political parties. If we look at the PTI parliamentarian, 60% of their MNAs have less than 5 years of association with PTI. Karachi has been voting and will continue to vote for those who are from among them, and who stand by them, may it be the recent rains, Abbas town incident or garment factory massacre and on countless other occasions. Karachi has no place for the naive and immature and often sharmnaak entrants into political arena
Once again only Karachi !! :) and the party whose slogan is justice is supporting it how amazing! biased justice.
The end result will be the same as 71. You do in-inequalities and expect justice is like you take poison and expect it will act as aab-e-hayaat.
@Abdullah: if MQM boycotts, real mandate won't be evaluated
Those people in Karachi who care about equality among all citizens of Pakistan must go and cast their votes. Those people here who wish the ultimate 'freedom' for us must vote this elction. We who wish to be liberated from the grips of neo-colonial powers here the people who are not James, Joe or Harry but Khans, Mians, Mirs and Chaudhrys and look like us with sepia equally dark or at least as brown must vote and let the oppressors see who we wish us to represent in our assemblies. This country is made by the poor to liberate the poor and not to be subjugated and exploited by a few new masters with their self-interest for enriching themselves and their families. Go and vote for the true and honest political party who has been fighting for your rights. Let everyone know what is the difference between poor and down trodden and the elites here.
EVEN ARMY MQM WILL WIN AND IMRAN KHAN WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS WINNING ALL HIS EYE ON NA-254 AND MQM IS TRADITIONAL WINNER IN THIS CONSTITUENCY SO AUG 22 WILL PROVE THE REAL MANDATE OF KARACHI INSHALLAH.
@Abdullah: This is not the first time that Army is deployed for elections. Real mandate is clearly given by the people of Karachi for the last 3 decades, but clearly not acceptable to the powerful
By this we can inshallah determine the real mandate of the parties...