KARACHI: Arrangements have been finalised to hold the much-anticipated by-poll on the vacant National Assembly seat of NA-245 (Karachi East-IV)) on Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said.
The seat fell vacant after the death of Aamir Liaquat Hussain, televangelist-turned-politician and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MP from the constituency who passed away under mysterious circumstances in June.
A total of 263 polling stations have been set up by the commission, of which 60 have been declared “sensitive” and 203 “top sensitive”.
17 candidates, except the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) who’ve withdrawn in favour of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), are taking part in the by-poll. Unlike PPP, PML-N hardly enjoys any vote bank in the constituency.
The decision has left the MQM-P as the main contestant against the PTI which won the seat in the 2018 general elections and has now fielded Mahmood Maulvi, a former special assistant to then-prime minister Imran Khan.
Last week, the PPP said the decision to withdraw its candidate in favour of MQM-P was in fact the decision of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — the ruling coalition.
However, it made it clear that the strategy was opted only for the by-polls.
Meanwhile, enjoying a strong position in the constituency after support from different parties, the MQM-P, however, faces a new challenge as Farooq Sattar, the party’s disgruntled leader and founder of the Organisation Restoration Committee of the MQM-P, is also contesting as an independent candidate.
A strict security plan has been chalked out to maintain law and order on the polling day, the police said.
