KARACHI: As many as 581 candidates are in the run on 22 National Assembly seats in Karachi after passing the last day of withdrawal of nomination papers for the Feb 8 general elections.

Leaders and workers of various political and religious parties as well as those willing to contest the Feb 8 elections as independent candidates have already launched their election campaign from the city’s seven districts — South, East, West, Central, Malir, Korangi and Keamari.

This time, a majority of the aspirants include independent candidates because the returning officers categorised the candidates of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf as “independent” ones in compliance with the order of the Supreme Court that took back the party’s iconic poll symbol ‘bat’.

Of the 581 candidates, the highest number of candidates, 120, are in the run for four NA seats in district East, followed by 113 vying for five NA seats in district Central, 87 on three NA seats in Korangi, 76 on three seats of district South, 72 on three NA seats in district West, 65 in the run on three NA seats in district Malir and 48 candidates are contesting elections on two NA seats in district Keamari.

Prominent candidates in district Malir

Karachi’s first constituency is NA-229 and besides several other aspirants prominent candidates are Jam Abdul Karim Bijar of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P’s) Fouzia Hameed, PML-N’s Qadir Bux and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Mumtaz Hussain.

Muttahida convener Khalid Maqbool, PTI’s Sindh chief Haleem Adil, JI’s Hafiz Naeem, PPP’s Nabil Gabol are among the candidates

In NA-230, PPP’s Syed Rafiulalh, PML-N’s Muzaffar Ali Shajra, Dr Masroor Sial of the PTI, Aurangzeb Farooqui of Pakistan Rah-i-Haq Party and others are in the field.

In NA-231, Abdul Hakeem Baloch of PPP, Jameel Ahmed Khan of PML-N, Dr Masroor Sial and Umer Farooq of the JI are among the candidates.

District Korangi

From NA-232, MQM-P’s Aasia Ishaq, JI’s Taufeeq Siddiqui are prominent among many candidates.

MQM-P Javed Hanif, JI’s Abdul Jameel Khan and other are contesting elections on NA-233.

PML-N’s Saleem Zia, Moin Amer Pirzada of the MQM-P, former PTI’s MNA Faheem Khan, PPP’s Ali Rashid and other are vying for NA-234.

District East

JI’s Meraj-ul-Huda Siddiqui, MQM-P’s Mohammad Iqbal Khan, former PTI MNA Saif-ur-Rahman and many others are candidates on NA-235.

PTI leader Syed Firdous Shamim Naqvi, MQM-P’s Hassan Sabir, JI’s Osama Razi, PPP’s Muzammil Qureshi are among the contestants on NA-236.

MQM-P’s Rauf Siddiqui is in the run on NA-237 against JI’s Irfan Ahmed, PPP’s Asad Niazi and PTI’s Zahoor Mehsud.

PTI’s provincial chief Haleem Adil Sheikh is contesting from NA-238, now as an independent candidate against MQM-P’s Sadiq Iftikhar and Saifuddin of the JI and others.

District South

From NA-239, Nabil Gabol of the PPP, Fazal-ur-Rehman Niazi of the JI and others are contenting.

Dr Arshad Vohra of the MQM-P, PPP’s Saleem Mandviwalla, Syed Abdul Rasheed of the JI, Haleem Adil Sheikh’s brother Aleem Adil and several others are in the run from NA-240.

Dr Farooq Sattar of the MQM-P is also in run from NA-241 against Mirza Ikhtiar Baig of the PPP, PTI’s Karachi president Khurram Sher Zaman and others.

District West

Syed Mustafa Kamal of the MQM-P is running for NA-242 against PPP’s Qadir Mandokhail, Khawaja Shoaib of the PML-N, Fazal Ahad of the JI and others.

At NA-243, Abdul Qadir Patel of the PPP, PML-N’s Akhtar Jadoon, Shiraz Jadoon of the JI, Humayun Sultan of the MQM-P and PTI’s Shujaat Ali Khan are contesting the polls.

At NA-244, MQM-P’s Dr Farooq Sattar, former PTI MNA Aftab Jahangir, JI’s Irfan Ahmed and others are in the field.

From NA-245, former PTI MNA Attaullah, MQM-P’s Syed Hafeezuddin, PPP’s Siddique Akbar and Ishaq Khan of the JI are in the run.

District Central

City chief of the JI Hafiz Naeemur Rehman is contesting from NA-246 against MQM-P’s Syed Amin-ul-Haq and others.

MQM-P’s Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan is in the run from NA-247 against Monem Zafar Khan of the JI, Naheed Parveen of the PML-N, PPPP’s Sheikh Maaz Feroz and Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan’s Mohammad Farooq.

MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui is contesting from NA-248 against JI’s Mohammad Babar Khan, Mohammad Hassan Khan of PPP, Arsalan Khalid of the PTI and many others.

JI’s Muslim Pervez is in the run against MQM-P’s Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui, TLP’s Hafiz Hamid Mehmood Kagani, Syed Ansub Raza Patmi of PML-N and PPP’s Abdul Waheed from NA-249.

NA-250 is the last constituency of Karachi from where JI’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem, MQM-P’s Farhan Chishti and PPP’s Khwaja Sohail Mansoor are among several candidates.

Published in Dawn, January 15th, 2024