KARACHI: By-elections for 12 seats of various local government institutions in Sindh were held in a peaceful atmosphere in Hyder­abad, Thatta, Sujawal and Badin districts on Thursday.

According to unofficial results, Pakistan Peoples Party won seven seats while Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz secu­r­ed one seat each. Three seats went to independent candidates, one of them supported by the MQM-London.

In Thatta district, the PPP won two seats for which by-elections were held. In a contest for a Buhara union council seat, PPP candidate Zafar Soomro obtained 2,570 votes to defeat PML-N candidate Syed Haider Shah, who got 2,350 votes, according to unofficial results.

In the other contest, for a Jungshahi union council seat, PPP candidate Ghulam Nabi Palijo defeated his PML-N rival Sadaf Palijo by securing 1,244 votes. Ms Palijo could poll only 350 votes.

In Sujawal district, PPP clinched two of the three seats for which by-elections were held on Thursday. A third one was secured by the PML-N.

Iqbal Shoro of the PPP bagged 407 votes to defeat his PML-N-backed Shirazi group candidate Irfan Khwaja who got 196 votes in the by-election for a Mirpur Bathoro town committee seat.

The seat had fallen vacant due to the death of Mr Shoro’s father Yousuf Shoro.

In a contest for a Belo union council seat, Ahmed Khaskheli of the PML-N-backed Shirazi group polled 371 votes as against his PPP rival Jumman Shah’s 322 votes.

PPP’s Sajjad Shoro defeated his PML-N rival Ghulam Nabi Zour in the by-election for Mahar Shah union council.

The exact number of the two candidates’ votes could not be ascertained due to some technical reasons. The seat had fallen vacant due to murder of the winning candidate’s brother, Dr Shams Shoro.

By-elections for two seats of the Tando Bago town committee in Badin district was held in a peaceful manner and both seats were clinched by PPP candidates, according to unofficial results.

For the Ward-1 seat, PPP’s Ghulam Hussain Sheedi polled 737 votes to defeat Ameer Abbas Memon, who belonged to the group led by former home minister Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza.

Mr Memon got only 50 votes as he announced a boycott of the election in the morning, claiming that local PPP leaders and activists had resorted to rigging.

For the Ward-8 seat, PPP candidate Anwer Ali Khow­aja bagged 970 votes as against 237 secured by Jam­iat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) candidate Moham­med Usman Ghani Samoon.

In Mirpurkhas district, MQM-P candidate Abdul Jabbar won the Ward-10 seat which had fallen vacant due to the death of the same party’s activist, Ayub Rajput.

Mr Jabbar secured 891 votes as against his PPP rival Mohammed Saleem’s 282 votes.

In Hyderabad district, an independent candidate Asif Baig, said to be backed by the MQM-London, was dec­lar­ed elected in the by-election for a UC-46 (Hyderabad city) seat.

He defeated MQM-P candidate Haji Tauqeer Khan by 331 votes.

Mr Baig polled 768 votes as against 437 of Mr Khan.

The winning candidate’s supporters kept raising pro-Altaf slogans outside polling stations during the day and after announcement of the unofficial results.

MQM-P deputy convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was taken to a hospital after he complained of kidney pain during the day. He was later shifted to his residence.

In the other by-election for a seat of Barechani (Hyder­abad taluka rural) union council, PPP’s Allah­yar was declared winner.

He secured 1,664 votes to beat his rival Ahmed Khan, who got 464 votes.

In Shikarpur district, independent candidate Khuda Bux Mirani won the by-election for the Baddo UC chairman by defeating his PPP rival Siraj Ahmed Wadhyo by 662 votes.

In another by-election, for the Ward-23 seat of the Shikarpur municipal committee, another independent candidate, Dr Allah Dino Sanjrani, polled 963 votes to defeat his PPP rival, Moham­med Nawaz Sanjrani, who got 562 votes.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2017