HYDERABAD: Stage is all set for an exciting electoral bout in Ghotki – billed as a most significant by-poll in the area’s history – as two powerful Mahars, who also happened to be maternal uncle and nephew, for July 23 contest in NA-205.

The seat had fallen vacant after death of Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar, a former Sindh chief minister.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Sardar Mohammad Bux Khan Mahar is taking on his nephew Ahmed Ali Mahar, an independent candidate.

Polling personnel have been handed over polling material and they have left for duties at polling stations. The NA-205 constituency has 360,875 registered voters including 204,891 male and 155,935 female voters. A total of 290 polling stations have been set up which include 56 each for male and female voters while 178 are combined polling stations.

The constituency covers two talukas – Khangarh and Ghotki – and parts of Mirpur Mathelo taluka.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has declared 125 polling stations ‘highly sensitive’ and 164 ‘sensitive’.

Strict security arrangements have been put in place under ECP’s directives. Reports from Ghotki indicate that army personnel are likely to be deployed inside and outside polling stations for security reasons amidst PPP’s reservations.

Ghotki – known for sardari system – has two national and four provincial assembly seats. The district has 706,541 registered voters as per ECP’s record. Out of them, 399,348 are male and 307,193 female voters. The district has a population of 1,647,239 according to the provisional results of the 2017 census.

Ahmed Ali Mahar is contesting the bypoll as an independent candidate although his father had joined Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — currently in power at the Centre — after winning the seat and became the federal narcotics minister.

NA-205 covers PS-20 and PS-21 which were won by Ali Gohar Khan Mahar of the anti-PPP Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and his brother Ali Nawaz Khan Mahar alias Raja Mahar as a PPP candidate, respectively, in the July 25, 2018 general elections.

Raja Mahar had defeated Jam Saifullah Dharejo, who had contested polls as a candidate of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Dharejo has since returned to the PPP fold. Raja Mahar has interestingly sided with his paternal nephew Ahmed Ali Khan Mahar despite being a PPP MPA. He was said to have been issued a show-cause notice for breaching the party discipline. Since last year’s general elections, Mahar family was mired in political wrangling. If history is any guide, the family had faced split for the first time in the last 70 years of political history of Ghotki. Mahar brothers have otherwise kept stakes in electoral politics intact.

Electoral history of this seat shows Sardar Noor Mohammad Loond had defeated PPP candidate Mohammad Bux Mahar’s father Sardar Ghulam Mohammad Mahar in the 1970 general elections. They are considered to be the fairest polls in the country’s history.

Then he was defeated by Mian Mitho of PPP in 1988 and Jam Saifullah in 1990 general elections. Ghulam Mohammad defeated Jam Saifullah in 1993 polls as PML-N candidate and during by-poll held after Ghulam Mohammad’s death, Ali Mohammad Khan Mahar had won it. He went on to win it from 2002 to 2018.

“We believe were are on a strong pitch,” said a PPP insider and native of Ghotki while agreeing that the “ruling party has an edge in the bypoll and we feel we must win this election with a comfortable lead over our rival”. Another elderly resident from Ghotki and a keen political observer – who comes from the Hindu community – opined that “it is going to be an exciting encounter of our area as a Mahar is taking on another Mahar”.

He explicitly said that Ali Gohar Mahar still has considerable influence and “the entire PPP government machinery is in full swing”. According to him, everyone has been visiting Ghotki right form the PPP chairman to the second line and third line leadership of the party. When asked whether PPP-JUI-F combination would make things difficult for GDA’s Ali Gohar, he was of the view that it depends on the religious party. “It is to be seen if JUI-F is going to mobilise its entire voter base against PPP. Usually, JUI-F takes poll seriously when its own candidate is in the field,” he commented. But PPP insider insisted that given response of the party’s electorates, Sardar Mohammad Bux Khan must beat Ahmed Ali Mahar.

Both main contestants — Sardar Mohammad Bux Khan and his nephew Ahmed Ali Mahar — have taken a sigh of relief after court allowed them to contest polls while dismissing their counter cases. Earlier, the bypoll’s date was extended by ECP from July 18 to July 23 in the light of this litigation.

PPP has forcefully backed its candidate by keeping two sitting MPAs as his covering candidates for NA-205.

In July 25, 2018 polls, Sardar Mohammad Bux’s papers were rejected by returning officer as his paternal cousin and GDA’s leader Ali Gohar Khan Mahar had played smart against him on the grounds that Bux did not declare his certain property in his papers.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2019