MM News

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won the by-election in the National Assembly constituency NA-249 Karachi West-II held on Thursday.

According to the unofficial, preliminary results from 276 polling stations, PPP’s Abdul Qadir Mandokhel won the race with 16,156 votes.

PML-N’s Miftah Ismail came second place with 15,473 votes, while banned outfit TLP’s candidate Nazeer Ahmed remains in third place with 11,125 votes.

The PTI had a dismal showing, never going beyond fourth place at any point during the count. It was at fifth place with 8,922 votes at last tally.

Former Karachi mayor and PSP candidate Mustafa Kamal came in fourth place with 9,227 votes, whereas MQM-P candidate Hafiz Muhammad Mursaleen took last place with 7,511 votes.

Voter turnout, despite strict security arrangements, was reported to be low in the morning and afternoon hours, perhaps due to Ramadan and the scorching heat. The by-election of NA-249 has become a matter of survival for many parties.

Since 1988, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won this constituency once, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) twice, while both Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and PTI have also won the seat only once.

Around 276 polling stations comprising 796 polling booths — 458 for male and 338 for female voters — were set up for the by-election. The constituency has a total of 201,656 male and 137,935 female among the total 339,591 registered voters.