Daily Times

KARACHI

KARACHI: As election draws nearer, aspiring candidates in Karachi’s newly formed NA-243 are stepping up their election campaigns.

Gulshan-e-Iqbal area, which falls under NA 243, is covered with banners, flags and trucks of different political parties and loud music blares from speakers installed in makeshift camps and election offices dotting the constituency.

The whole constituency is gripped by election fever and that too for a very good reason. NA-243 is one of the city’s most talked about constituencies because some of the most prominent political figures are contesting from it.

NA-243 is a newly formed constituency which was created by merging former NA-252 and NA-253. NA-243 consists of multiple parts of the city including Mohammad Ali Society, Dhoraji, Pir Ilahi Buksh Colony, PECHS-II, Bahadurabad, Eissa Nagri, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Patel Para, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Sharafabad and East Garden areas of Karachi East District.

From this constituency, 15 candidates are contesting for the National Assembly while 43 candidates are contesting for two provincial assembly seats PS-101 and PS-102.

The total number of voters in NA-243 is 401833. The population of the constituency is 695,588, out of which 211,168 are male voters and 190,665 are female voters. 216 polling stations and 846 polling booths will be set up in the region to cater to its population.

According to details, the literacy rate of the constituency is 80%. The constituency majorly comprises of the Urdu speaking mohajirs and Memons.

With elections approaching, NA-243 has become the talk of town since Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan is contesting from it. Although the PTI chairman was warmly welcomed by the residents when he visited the constituency, his campaign is not as effective in his absence. According to the residents, Imran Khan even if he is elected would not be able to oversee the constituency’s affairs since he would be staying in Islamabad. Imran Khan’s election campaign is currently being handled by PTI’s Karachi chapter President Firdous Shamim Naqvi who is also a candidate of PS-101.

The second bigwig in the polls is Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Syed Ali Raza Abidi who had landed the National Assembly seat from former NA-251 (now NA-244) after bagging 81,603 votes against PTI’s Raja Azhar Khan.

Syed Ali Raza Abidi has a marketing degree from Boston University. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Akhlaq enterprises. Currently, Syed runs his own restaurant.

Syed Ali Raza Abidi is a popular candidate in the constituency. He is also well connected with the Shia community in the region. The candidate is campaigning with vigor and the residents say that he frequently visits the area to motivate voters.

Abidi was also one of the few candidates who stood against the prospect of MQM’s collaboration with PSP. He was the first one to tweet that if MQM went on to collaborate with PSP, he will leave it.

There is widespread speculation regarding Imran Khan and Syed Ali Raza Abidi facing each other in elections but the young voters of the area say that their Imran Khan is Ali Raza Abidi.

“A person from the outside can never be of any use to the residents here. He (Imran) will win and never come back whereas we are here forever,” says Abidi.

“MQM manages to retain its vote bank even when crises surfaces as we have seen in past,” expresses the MQM candidate.

Abidi says that MQM might have problem due to new delimitation. He explains that around four goths have been added to NA-243. Abidi claims that these goths are more inclined towards PPP.

On other hand, some Urdu Speaking residents of the area are not very enthusiastic about casting their votes. This is because the last elected candidate Muzammil Qureshi has left MQM and Hyedar Abbas Rizvi has also not been active in politics.

Former Sindh Assembly deputy speaker Shehla Raza is also in the electoral battle on Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) ticket but PPP remains unpopular in the constituency owing to its 10 year tenure.

Another candidate contesting from NA-243 is Muhammad Osama Razi Khan. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) candidate is also a strong candidate as MMA won a seat in this constituency in 2002. Osama Razi Khan is a PhD scholar at theUniversity of Karachi.

Muhammad Muzamil Qureshi, who left MQM for Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) is also busy campaigning in the area. He says that he will clean sweep with great ease.

“I am the only candidate who belongs to the constituency. I was born here and I know the issues of this constituency,” he told Daily Times.

The PSP candidate says that he has been elected as MPA and MNA before and he has served residents of Karachi without any discrimination.

“In order to serve Karachiites in April 2018 I took the great decision to quit MQM and join hand with the man who made Karachi”, he says while appreciating PSP chairman and former mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal.

On the other hand, Sheikh Muhammad Shah Jahan from PML-N is not known be famous in the constituency. Therefore his position is not strong.

MML Vice President Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi is also in the field from “Allah Akbar Tehreek”(AAT). Hashmi is running his campaign and arranging frequent corner meetings.

“No idea how many people will vote for me in this election but I know that my team with our determined struggle will tell everyone about ideology of Pakistan,” says Hashmi.

Survey:

The Daily Times election 2018 pre-poll survey asked an open ended question to the 800 participants from various areas of this constituency about potential victory of political party from NA-243. The results have been tabulated below:

Analysts’ Views

According to the political experts, NA-253 has been a stronghold of MQM since MQM remained dominant in the 2013 and 2008 elections when Muzammil Qureshi and Haider Abbas Rizvi won from the constituency on MQM tickets. However, political pundits say that since all major parties have fielded strong candidates from NA-253, it will not be a piece of cake for MQM to win this time.

Senior journalist Ammar Zaidi told Daily Times that in NA-243 the religious factors will also come into play. “Since a majority of the people in theconstituency belongs to the Shia-Muslim and Ali Raza Abidi will be bagging substantial votes this time,” said Ammar Zaidi.

He said that PPP’s Shehla Raza had also been given a ticket because she is a member of the Shia community.

“Remember, the last time Faisal Raza Aabdi on PPP’s ticket got a good number of votes? This time Shahla Raza’s campaign is going good and it is expected she can conquer the seat”, predicted Ammar Zaidi.

“Shia community does not like Imran Khan, thereforehis vote bank would not be greater than Shehla Raza’s, but Ali Raza is still the strongest candidate,” he added.

Issues

One of the main problems the residents of the constituency are facing is the issue of encroachment. In Bahadarabad and Dhoraji areas, encroachments are causing traffic jams.

Arman Siddiqi, a resident of Gulshan 13-D said that the constituency faces the issues of water and power provision, sewerage, garbage disposal, overburdened road network, street crime and house robberies.

“If the encroachments are removed and wide roads and bridges are constructed, our traffic issues will cease to exist,” he added.

A resident of Sharfabad also complained about air pollution caused by heavy traffic in the area. He said that there should be collaborative efforts, as well as a long-term commitment to reduce emissions.

A student resident of Bahadrabad Arsihaba told Daily Times that even though the constituency comprised of ‘posh’ localities, nothing was being done about keeping it clean. “There are piles of rotting rubbish in our streets” he lamented.

Published in Daily Times, July 21^st 2018.