Despite widespread voter skepticism over role of elections in bringing about meaningful change in peoples’ lives, the Pakistan Peoples Party is in an unassailable position in Thatta and Sujawal districts and poised to repeat its winning streak without having to face any serious competition from any of its rivals.

It appears the serious challenges, including COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters of heavy rain and flood and nagging issues of steep rise in inflation and lack of basic civic amenities over the past five years of PPP rule, have done little to disillusion people with the Bhuttos’ party, at least in the twin districts.

The PPP is once again the only contender in the electoral race in the districts. The party’s candidate for NA-225, Sadiq Ali Memon, follows in the footsteps of his ancestors, who always secured victories for the party in all past elections.

Syed Riaz Hussain Shah Shirazi is the party’s candidate for PS-75 (Thatta-I) and Haji Ali Hassan Zardari, a relative of PPP chairman Asif Ali Zardari, is the PPP’s pick for PS-76 (Thatta-II).

Both the candidates have earned name for their commendable contribution to launching development projects in their respective coastal constituencies though Shirazi has an additional edge over Zardari for his strong political roots in the area thanks to wide respect of his late father, late Syed Aijaz Ali Shah Shirazi, among common folk. The two are expected to retain their seats in the provincial assembly (PA) with little opposition from their opponents.

On NA-225, the PPP has to contend with, besides others, the party’s former finance secretary, Wadero Rasool Bux Jakhro, who deserted PPP in protest over denial of party ticket and joined PML-N.

The three PPP candidates face a total of 30 rivals from various political parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) but none of them is able to put up a respectable fight against PPP.

Though relatively new to electoral politics, Jakhro has garnered support within his own community and is actively engaged in public outreach efforts to secure votes.

In recent years, after the declaration of Sujawal as a new district carved out of Thatta Shirazi group has emerged stronger in the new district. The group’s head Syed Ayaz Shah Shirazi is contesting NA-224 on PPP ticket, Shah Hussain Shah Shirazi is in the run for PS-73 (Sujawal-I) and Mohammad Ali Malkani is running for PS-74 (Sujawal-II). All the candidates are so powerful that there is no prospect of a robust competition in during general elections.

The other contestants for NA-224 in Sujawal are; Maulana Saleh Allahdad of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Lal Bux Jatoi (independent), Mumtaz Shah Bukhari (independent), Ghulam Sarwar Khatti of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan and Ramzan Lashari of MQM.

On PS-73, Ismail Memon of JUI-F, Danish Pathan of PTI, Jumman Khan Sindhi of Sindh Taraqqi-pasand Party (STP) and Manzoor Mallah of MQM are in the fray, while Najibullah Memon of JUI-F, Ghulam Rasool Unnar (independent), Zeeshan Khuwaja (independent), Mohammad Ashraf of STP and Ghulam Fatima Zangejo are running for PS-74.

Though poverty-ridden population of both the districts shows little enthusiasm in election campaigns they still want to hope against hope their representatives will do something this time to bring improvements in their lives, preserve historical sites and combat rampant corruption, particularly large-scale encroachment on land, especially in Kohistan area.

There are a total of 522,386 registered voters in Thatta and 424,328 in Sujawal district, respectively. The voters represent a small fraction of the total population of both the districts, which stands at a staggering 1,922,483.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2024