A semi-urban Malir district of the city with multi-ethnic groups is bracing for May 11 elections, with people closely observing political parties' election agenda to find possible remedies for their problems of unemployment and lawlessness. The district consists of two different constituencies; NA-257 and NA-258 with four provincial assembly seats - PS 121, PS 127, PS 129 and PS 130.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) are expected rivals to run for the seats among a number of other parties and individual candidates. However, the 10-party electoral alliance gives edge to the JI against others. According to political parties, the constituencies have a predominant lower class with hardly 10 percent of middle class population. Labouring, public transportation and dairy farming are the main source of earnings of the lower class.
The Malir constituencies are having a blend of Urdu speaking urban population and the ethnic Sindhi and Baloch residing in goths (villages) while Pushtuns and Punjabis are largely inhabited in urban slums. There are also issues with voters on polling day, which they underwent in the last election such as casting of their votes by others and overnight changing of polling stations, besides fears of violence, political parties say.
Population of NA 257 is 5,03,915 of them male are 1,45,136 and female are 1,11,399 with 2,56,535 legal voters. It is spread on Malir cantonment, old Malir and areas of old Karachi east. PS-121 has 1,10,982 total votes with population of 2,12,840, of which male are 59089 and female are 51,893. Total registered votes of PS-127 are 137933 and its population is 268671 of which male are 74077 and female are 63856.
Population of NA 258 is 4,96,001 of which 1,45,639 are male and 1,17,754 are female with eligible 2,63,393 votes. It is largely constituted of goths (villages) including of Bin Qasim and Gadap. Total votes of PS 129 are 1,24,410 out of the total population of 2,39,757 of which male are 73,382 and female are 51,028. Population of PS-130 is 2,17,827 of which male are 61,074 and female are 51,185 with total voters of 1,12,259.
All the political parties are campaigning to amass maximum support for their candidates. Flags, banners and posters are on display to invite voters' attention for the May 11 polls. Trade in the district is run by the majority Urdu speaking, transportation by Pukhtuns, and dairy farming by Punjabis. Sindhis and Baloch share the villages' affairs. Muslims are the major religious groups following by small pockets Christian and Hindus.
The strong community base in the district is said to have a bigger role in polls, as the clan leader has to decide whom his members will cast vote. The Pukhtun ethnic group vote is believed to stay divided as always.
The strong electoral support to the PPP has been from Baloch and Sindhi communities of the district in the past election. However, this time, the trend is expected to change in favour the JI or any other party, which was not part of the former ruling coalition. The growing lawlessness, poverty, soaring inflation, civic issues, unemployment and lack of the former government's attention to the district people have pushed them to decide their new choice for vote, political parties believe.
The social issue like drug peddling is also a cause of concern among the residents, and they wanted elimination of these immediately and without a political compromise. The MQM is fighting to retain both of the national assembly seats against the tough competition from JI, PPPP and PML-F, PML-N and other key political parties. The MQM had won NA 257 and 258 in February 18 polls of 2008.
Sajid Ahmed of MQM, who won the seat last election, Naseem Khan of PPP, Zain Ansari of PML-N, Taufeequddin Siddiqui of JI, Farooq Bangash of PTI, Hassan Jaffar of MWM, Amanullah Mehsud of ANP, Ghanwa Bhutto of PPP-SB, and Jamil-ur-Rab of MQM-H are contesting on NA 257.
On PS-121, Sanaullah Qureshi of MQM-H, Syed Azhar of PTI, Syed Nadeem Razi of MQM are contesting. On PS-127, Asfaq Ahmed Mangi of MQM, Jaffer Hussain of PML-Q, Syed Azhar of PTI, Syed Jamil-ur-Rab of MQM-H, M. Ashraf Samoo of PPPP and Ishaq Jokhio of PPP-SB are the key contenders.
On NA 258, Ahmad Gabol of MQM, Raja Abdul Razzaq of PPP, Abdul Hakim Baloch of PML-N, Qurban Baroro of PTI, M Ali Zaidi of MWM, Sultan Mandokhel of ANP, Ishaq Jokhio of PPP-SB, Haleem Adil Shaikh of PML-Q, and Khursheed Ali of MQM-H are fighting. On PS-129, Haleem Adil Shaikh of PML-Q, Ghulam Mustafa of PTI, Gul Muhammad Mengal of MQM, Muhammad Rafi of PPPP, Syed Khan Afghan of ANP, Maulana Syed Mohiuddin Shah of MDM, Shafi Muhammad Jamoot of PML-N and Nisar Ahmed of PPP-SB are fighting. On PS-130, Raja Ansari of PML-N, Sajad Ahmed Khan of ANP, Ghafoor Lala of PTI, Muhammad Riaz of PM-Q, Manzoor Ahmed Jokhio of MQM and Muhammad Sadiq Jokhio of PPPP are contesting.