For a long time, anti-Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) political parties in Sindh have had a desire to keep it away from power. To achieve their target, they have formed alliances and engineered seat adjustments since 2013, but they have failed at every occasion. Keeping their tradition alive, they have again joined hands by expanding an already existing alliance – the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) – and by making seat adjustments with the remaining anti-PPP parties: the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), etc., and personalities.
Administratively, Sindh is divided into six divisions and 30 districts. Voters in Sindh have to directly elect 61 MNAs and 130 MPAs to represent them in the National Assembly (NA) and provincial assembly (PA). PPP leadership is confident that this time it will increase its seat tally from Sindh, but the party’s biggest impediment is internal rivalry of its candidates in different areas.
On most seats in Sindh, PPP candidates have a clear lead over their opponents, unless a miracle happens. Today we will discuss national and provincial assembly seats in Larkana (eight NA and 17 PA seats) and Sukkur (seven NA and 14 PA seats) divisions, where a close contest is expected or where important candidates are in the running.
On NA 190 Jacobabad-I, a neck-to-neck fight is expected between traditional rivals, 2018 winner Mohammad Mian Soomro, who is running as an independent candidate, and PPP’s Ijaz Jakhrani. Similarly on PS 1, Jacobabad-I, PPP’s first-time runner Sher Mohammad Mugheri is facing independent candidate Abdul Razzaque Khan. On PS 3 Jacobabad-III, Mumtaz Jakhrani, PPP’ ex-provincial minister and relative of NA candidate Ijaz Jakhrani has rebelled against party decision and is in the race against PPP candidate Aurangzeb Panhwar. This constituency will see a close fight. All these independent candidates have the support of GDA and its allies. Past results suggest that PPP’s Sohrab Sarki is favourite on PS 2 Jacobabad-II. However, JUI-F’s Shafique Khoso is possibly giving him nightmares.
PPP’s Shabbir Ali Bijarani and JUI-F’s Dr. Ibrahim Jatoi are in the race on NA 192 Kashmore cum Shikarpur. A close contest is expected here because both the candidates have not only party votes at their disposal but they have strong personal support bases too. On PS 5, Kashmore II, JUI-F’s Rab Nawaz Chachar, with the help of his community and the influential Tegho Khan Teghani, can surprise Ghulam Abid Sundrani of PPP. On PS 7 Shikarpur-I, Agha Taimoor Khan of JUI-F, whose peers were associated with the PPP and he himself has remained PPP MPA, is contesting the election against PPP where an interesting contest is expected. PPP’s Arif Mahar is up against JUI-F’s Abid Jatoi on PS 8 Shikarpur-II, where a fierce battle is expected.
Although JUI-F’s Rashid Mehmood Soomro is up against PPP’s fresh inductee Shahryar Mahar, son of ex-federal minister Ghous Bux Mahar on NA 193 Shikarpur, his actual constituency is NA 194 Larkana where he is contesting elections against PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. His brother Nasir Mehmood Soomro is contesting NA 196 Kamber-I against Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. According to local sources, PPP candidates have an edge over their rivals on these seats. However, PPP will have challenging contests on PS 12 Larkana-III and PS-14 Kamber I.
On NA 198, PPP’s Khalid Lund will be challenged by independent candidate Faqeer Abdul Haq alias Mian Mithoo, infamous for forced conversion cases. Similarly on PS 18 Ghotki-I, PPP candidate Shahryar Shar is facing sitting PPP Senator Jam Mehtab Dahar and on PS 19 Ghotki-II, PPP candidate Bari Khan Pitafi is facing independent candidate Nadir Akmal Leghari. Both these independent candidates enjoy the support of PPP rivals.
The PPP has smooth sailing in Sukkur, where former federal minister Khursheed Shah and others are in the run. GDA’s Deedar Jatoi will offer a bit of resistance against PPP’s Nauman Shaikh on NA 200 Sukkur-I and independent candidate Mubeen Jatoi against PPP’s Nasir Shah on PS 25 Sukkur-IV. Nafisa Shah, Qaim Ali Shah and Halar Wassan enjoy one-way traffic on NA 202 Khairpur-I, PS 26 Khairpur-I and PS 27 Khairpur-II respectively. There is a close contest on NA 203 Khairpur-II between Sadaruddin Shah of GDA and Fazal Shah of PPP. While in NA 204 Khairpur-III, PPP’s Javed Shah has a small lead over Moazzam Abbasi of GDA. On PS 27 Khairpur-III and PS 31 Khairpur-VI, PPP candidates Sajid Banbhan and Syed Bachal Shah are in difficult positions against their rivals Ismail Shah and Rashid Shah of GDA. PPP’s Shiraz Rajper and Naeem Kharal are slightly better off against their rivals Rafique Banbhan and Khalid Shaikh of GDA on PS 29 Khairpur-IV and PS 30 Khairpur-V respectively.
In the next part of this series, we will discuss Shaheed Benazirabad and Mirpur Khas divisions of Sindh.
