High-stakes by-poll for Pakistan's NA-249 constituency begins

The by-election for the highly-contested NA-249 constituency in Karachi began on Thursday morning. The seat had fallen vacant after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Faisal Vawda resigned over his dual nationality controversy and became a senator.

The by-election for the highly-contested NA-249 constituency in Karachi began on Thursday morning. The seat had fallen vacant after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Faisal Vawda resigned over his dual nationality controversy and became a senator. NA-249, Karachi West II, was created in 2018 by amalgamating areas that previously fell in two NA constituencies (NA-239 and NA-240) during three general elections held from 2002 to 2013, Dawn reported.

A tough contest is expected among the candidates of major political parties contesting the by-election. Prominent candidates in the run are Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Miftah Ismail, Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal, PTI's Amjad Afridi, Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) Qadir Khan Mandokhail, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) Mohammad Mursaleen and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan's (TLP) Mufti Nazeer Ahmed Kamalvi.

There are 339,591 voters in the constituency -- 201,656 male and 137,935 female voters, Dawn reported citing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Geo News reported that Prime Minister Imran Khan had chosen this constituency to contest elections for the first time in Pakistan in 1997. He could only secure 2,037 votes from the area.

In 2018, Faisal Vawda bagged the constituency with over 35,000 votes, defeating PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif with a margin of only 723 votes. After the Daska by-election, the NA-249 by-poll is crucial for both the ruling PTI and the opposition PML-N.

For Prime Minister Khan, who was also among the 14 MNAs who won from Karachi, the general perception about PTI in Karachi is that its elected representatives have not performed well, reported Geo News. This election comes after Imran Khan's ruling PTI suffered an upset when its candidate Ali Asjad Malhi lost the hotly-contested NA-75 seat in Daska to PML-N's Nosheen Iftikhar earlier this month.

According to provisional and unofficial results from all 360 polling stations, Iftikhar managed to secure 110,075 votes, whereas Malhi received 93,433. The final tally means the PML-N won by a margin of 16,642 votes, reported Geo News. The by-election in the Sialkot constituency had gained national importance after a by-poll in the same constituency on February 19 this year was declared void by the ECP due to multiple incidents of violence and serious irregularities.

Following the controversy, the ECP had ordered re-election in NA-75. The PTI candidate had, however, challenged the ECP order in the Supreme Court, but the petition was dismissed on April 2 and the apex court ordered that the poll be held on April 10 as per schedule. (ANI)

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