GDA knocks out PPP in Larkana by-election

Larkana - Grand Democratic Alliance candidate Moazzam Ali Abbasi won by-election in the Sindh Assembly constituency PS-11 Larkana-II by bagging 31,557 votes, unofficial and unconfirmed results suggested Thursday.

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate had the support from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F). According to a private TV channel, Abbasi was followed by Pakistan People’s Party nominee Jamil Soomro, who secured 26,021 votes. The process of polling for the by-election began at 8am on Thursday and continued until 5pm. According to Election Commission of Pakistan, 138 polling stations were set up in the constituency for the 152,614 registered voters, of which 83,106 are male and 69,598 female.

Twenty polling stations in the constituency were declared highly sensitive and 50 sensitive.

The seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court de-seated GDA’s Moazzam Abbasi for failing to declare his assets in his nomination papers. Talking to a news channel, GDA leader Nusrat Sehar Abbasi congratulated party workers over a comfortable win against the PPP candidate. “People of Larkana have taken revenge from PPP for not providing them food, education and clean drinking water,” she added. Federal Minister for Water Resources and PTI leader Faisal Vawda said that PPP had lost Larkana by-election despite using state machinery. PTI leader Ali Zaidi took to twitter saying, “Democracy is the best revenge, and today the people of Larkana have taken their revenge.” More than 4,000 personnel of Pakistan Army, Rangers and police forces performed security duties during the by-election. The seat fell vacant after the Supreme Court de-seated the Grand Democratic Alliance’s (GDA) Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Moazzam Ali Khan Abbasi over failing to declare his assets following a petition moved by PPP’s Nida Khuhro. It is pertinent to mention here that the GDA leader had won polls in the PS-11 Larkana-II constituency during 2018’s general elections after defeating the daughter of President Sindh PPP Nisar Khuhro, Nida Khuhro, when her father was declared disqualified over the petition of Moazzam Ali Khan Abbasi that challenged his nomination papers.

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