THATTA, Aug 13: To ensure free, fair and peaceful by-election in NA-237, scheduled for Aug 22, the District Returning Officer (DRO) for the constituency, Thatta District & Sessions Judge Abdul Razzaq Memon, on Tuesday called for the deployment of the army at 345 polling stations.

In the letter number EB (Bye.Elec2013) /2627 of 2013 the DRO wrote to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) mentioning that there was a requirement for the deployment of the army in the 345 polling stations in NA-237 Thatta-I because the local police were allegedly politicised and incapable of managing the law and order situation.

Hence the deployment of the army in considerable numbers in and out of the polling stations was indispensable.

Elaborating his point of view, the DRO said that in the general elections a large number of complaints were made by the candidates against the police for supporting their preferred candidates. The police lost their impartiality, he said.

Copies of the letter were sent to the Provincial Election Commission, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sindh and the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), Sindh.

Opposing some proposals about partial deployment of the army, he mentioned in his letter that this would be a futile exercise, adding that in case of non-deployment or partial deployment of the army if an untoward situation occurred then the responsibility would have to be taken by the ECP.

He further suggested in his letter that instead of the local SSP, the DIG concerned should be made available during the polls in the constituency to supervise and control its police force.

NA-237 Thatta –I fell vacant following the disqualification of the successful candidate from the constituency, Sadiq Ali Memon, who had obtained 2,700 more votes than his main rival candidate, Syed Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi, an independent candidate of the Shirazi group, in the May 11 general elections. Mr Memon, a former legislator of the provincial assembly, had been challenged by the Sindh High Court in May this year for misinforming the court about his dual nationality. He filed a review petition against the judgement in the Supreme Court on May 9 this year.

During the hearing of the case, Mr Memon appealed to the SC that since the general elections were approaching he should be allowed to contest the election.

Consequently, the SC allowed him to contest the elections and he stood as a candidate from NA-237 Thatta–I and was managed to the election. However the Supreme Court announced its verdict after the general election on May 16 and upheld the verdict of the SHC and declared him as disqualified.

In the upcoming Aug 22 by-election, Shamsunnisa Memon, Mr Memon’s mother, will be the Pakistan Peoples Party candidate contesting against Syed Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

The electioneering is gaining momentum and the PPP which so far lost four seats including one National Assembly and three Provincial Assembly seats out of a total of seven National and Provincial Assembly seats in Thatta district in the last general election against the then independent Shirazis is now making all-out efforts to win this National Assembly seat in order to regain the confidence of its party workers from this district which till the near past was supposedly the fort of PPP.