KARACHI: This newly-carved constituency brings hope for a good number of its inhabitants who endure, among other hardships, persisting water shortages as a number of them believe that Shahbaz Sharif could be the ‘messiah’ they are waiting for if he clinches it and becomes the next prime minister.
The three-time chief minister of Punjab and now president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz after disqualification of his elder brother appears to have the odds in his favour to win the seat.
This seat, after being carved out from erstwhile NA-239 and NA-240, somehow reduces the chances of the MQM, which had been winning a larger part of it falling in former NA-240, along with winning NA-239 twice, which is now NA-248.
PPP’s Qadir Mandokhel, MQM’s Aslam Shah and PTI’s Faisal Vawda are also in the run
This constituency is among the seats where Sindh borders Balochistan and is exclusively composed of the entire Baldia Town including Rasheedabad, Saeedabad, Qaimkhani Colony, Ittehad Town, Gulshan-i-Manzoor, Eidgah Mor, Gulshan-i-Bilal and Gulshan-i-Tauheed. Besides, Zia Colony, which was earlier a part of the Orangi constituency, has been merged with it.
The areas like Shershah and Pak Colony have been slashed and made part of NA-248 and NA-250 respectively.
The Karachi West district was earlier the second most populous district of the metropolis after Karachi Central. However, with the current census, it has become the largest by size and claimed all additional five constituencies of the city — one of the National Assembly and four of the provincial legislature.
This new constituency has large populations of Pakhtun, Urdu-speaking, Hazarawal, Sindhi, and Punjabi communities.
There is ample support for the PML-N, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pakistan Peoples Party, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Awami National Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.
In the past elections, MQM has been winning the areas making erstwhile NA-240 comfortably.
The new constituency has lost many large pockets of MQM support, thus, it opens prospects for all other political parties who bank on various ethnic groups inhabiting it.
Apart from Mr Sharif, 14 other candidates are contesting for the seat, which included five independents.
The MQM has fielded Aslam Shah, while Faisal Vawda and Qadir Khan Mandokhel are pitted by the PTI and the PPP, respectively.