Daily Times

KARACHI: After the resignation of former Sindh chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, Pakistan People’s Party new contender Syed Murad Ali Shah was elected to the post on Friday.

Shah won with a comfortable lead the election for the province’s chief executive conducted in a Sindh Assembly session. At the end of the provincial legislature’s voting session, he had secured 88 votes in favour, while three votes were cast in the favour of his opponent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Khurram Sher Zaman.

The PPP had formally nominated senior Sindh minister Syed Murad Ali Shah as chief minister in a widely expected move after outgoing provincial chief executive Qaim handed in his resignation earlier this week.

A former adviser to the chief minister, Shah had been returning to the Sindh Assembly from the Jamshoro constituency PS-73 since its creation in the 2002 general elections. He was elected twice to the seat, once in 2002-2007 and again on the same seat during the by-polls in 2014.

Shah was disqualified from the 2013 general election because of dual citizenship (Canadian) which he later renounced to become eligible for 2014 by-polls. He had also held positions in the Hyderabad Development Authority and Karachi Fish Harbour Authority.

The change of guard in the Sindh came after the ruling PPP held a consultative meeting in Dubai earlier last week. Qaim along with senior PPP leader Faryal Talpur and Home Minister Sohail Anwar Siyal had also left the metropolis for Dubai, where the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari were waiting for them to begin crucial deliberations.

Zardari and Bilawal were expected to also review the affairs of the Sindh government for which the then Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah had also arrived in Dubai.

Before leaving for Dubai, the Qaim had told the reporters at Karachi airport that the party leadership would “review performance of the government and set new targets for development works.”