Sindh government has announced public holiday to be observed on April 29th on the occasion of by-elections for Karachi’s NA-249 seat.
“The District Administration Karachi-West is pleased to declare 29th April 2021 (Thursday) as a public holiday in connection with the by-election in NA-249 Karachi West II in the territorial jurisdiction of sub-division Mominabad, Karachi-West,” read the notification issued by the Office of Deputy Commissioner West.
The NA-249 by-elections are being contested by various mainstream political parties. However, the notable contest is expected to be between PTI, PPP, PML-N, PSP and MQM-P.
PTI has fielded Amjad Iqbal Afridi, PML-N has given the ticket to Miftah Ismail, whereas PPP’s Qadir Khan Mandokhail is contesting the by-election.
https://twitter.com/AmjadAfridi_PTI/status/1386209176066707457
چیئرمین پاک سرزمین پارٹی سید مصطفی کمال کا یوسی 36 کرسچین محلہ میں مسیحی برادری سے خطاب، عوام کی جانب سے مکمل حمایت کی یقین دہانی@KamalPSP#NA249 #PSPNA249 #VoteForDolphin pic.twitter.com/SGe4jtW316
— MQM Pakistan Digital (@MQMPUpdates) April 27, 2021
میں حاجی حنیف طیب اور نظام مصطفی پارٹی کا شکر گزار ہوں کہ انہوں نے میری حمایت کا اعلان کیا https://t.co/UvTzLj6WHu
— Miftah Ismail (@MiftahIsmail) April 27, 2021
PSP leader and former Mayor Karachi Mustafa Kamal is also contesting the by-polls, along with MQM-P’s Hafiz Muhammad Mursaleen.
Other notable candidates include;
- Hazrat Umer — Pakistan Muslim Alliance
- Khalid Siddiqi — Pasban Pakistan
- Rehmatullah Khan — Aam Loeg Ittehad
- Muhammad Adil — Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party
- Muhammad Wali — Pakistan Falah Party
- 18 independent candidates
NA-249 constituency has a total population of 782,776 of which only 43% i.e. 339,591 are registered voters. The constituency is plagued with water shortage and lack of infrastructure, and include various localities including Abidabad, Islam Nagar, Gulshan-e-Ghazi, Dehli Colony, Kumhar Wara, Gujrat Colony, Turk Colony, Jam Nagar, Rasheedabad, Hussani Nagar, Anjaam Colony, Junagarh Muhallah, Kokan Colony, Afridi Colony, Ghous Nagar, Muslim Mujahid Colony, Madina Colony, Saeedabad, New Abadi, New Saeedabad, Qaim Khani colony and Ittehad Town from District Keamari and Islam Nagar, Khyber Colony and Mujahid Colony of Mominabad from District West.
It is to be noted that NA-249 seat was vacated after PTI’s Faisal Vawda resigned from the National Assembly’s seat on March 3rd. He had given up the NA seat in order to contest in the recent Senate elections.
Faisal Vawda had won the NA-249 seat in 2018 General Elections by securing 35,349 votes against Shehbaz Sharif’s 34,626 and Abid Hussain’s (TLP) 23,981 votes.
