KARACHI - Karachi’s NA-243, comprising Gulshan-e-Iqbal and adjacent areas, has become one of those constituencies in which competition would be worth watching on the election day as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan is facing MQM’s Syed Ali Raza Abidi, PPP’s Shehla Raza and others.

Although, PTI candidate Ashraf Jabbar Qureshi got 61,913 votes and remained second, giving a tough time to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in 2013’s general elections, it failed to motivate its voters, in the local government elections in 2015, securing just two out of 31 union councils of District East.

The stakes are very high this time as the PTI chief himself decided to contest from here. The party also considered fielding Rasheed Godil in NA 243, but the PTI chairman decided to contest himself from here. Former MQM MNA joined PTI ahead of the polls.

As the PTI chief is a bigwig, political analysts are considering him one of the favourites, but at the same time they believe that his victory is not certain due to the demography of the constituency. Owing to the constituency’s demography, it would not be a ‘piece of cake’ for him. The majority of voters is Urdu-speaking and has remained supporter of the MQM. The analysts are not taking Syed Ali Raza Abidi too lightly and considering him the biggest rival of Imran. They said if the MQM manages to motivate its voters as it did in the past, the PTI chairman may face difficulties and lose the seat.

However, the Karachi PTI strongly believes Imran would emerge victorious from the seat with ease. Firdous Shamim Naqvi, the party’s city president, told The Nation that they are 100 percent sure majority of the voters would be voting for Imran on the polling day. When asked whether NA-247 would be safer than NA 243, Naqvi repied, “This seat is also secure. Our chairman is coming to Karachi on July 22 to address a public gathering and this would prove our claim,” he said.

When asked if Imran will vacate NA-243 if he wins more than one seat as he is contesting from four national constituencies across the country, Naqvi replied, “The party would decide it later.” He, however, hoped his chairman would remain the representative of Karachi’s people to bring the mega city into national mainstream.

“Sindh needs the PTI chairman more than any province as our party is much popular in Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Imran hails from Mianwali and the status quo has been broken in Punjab. To bring change in Sindh, it is necessary that Imran should represent the people of Karachi, the capital of the province, Naqvi added, clarifying that final decision would be taken later.

MQM-P candidate Syed Ali Raza Abidi who was an MNA from 2013 to 2018 admitted Imran was his biggest opponent owing to ‘financial backing’. He; however, believed the majority of people would not be voting for the PTI chief as he has ruled out the creation of Southern Sindh province, which is an ‘overdue demand’ of the people of Urban Sindh.

“On one hand, Imran Khan is strongly demanding the creation of South Punjab province, but on the other, he ruled out the creation Southern Sindh province, which shows he is not aware of the people’s needs,” Syed Ali Raza Abidi said. He admitted the PTI had bagged a large number of votes from Karachi in 2013. Abidi was of the view that his party had regained its position in 2015’s LG polls by getting its mayor and deputy mayor elected easily.

When asked how they will motivate their voters who were strongly associated with the party founder, he replied, “The MQM voters are very much aware that we are going forward with our ideology and on July 25 they will vote for us, repeating the election slogan of his party “Apna Vote Apno Kay Liye.”

Abidi completely ruled out the chances of PSP from NA 243, saying the people are familiar with everything going around, so the PSP would not get anything.

The other main contestants on the seat are Pakistan People’s Party’s Syeda Shehla Raza, who had held the deputy speakership of Sindh the Assembly for 10 consecutive years, Pak Sarzameen Patry’s Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi and Osama Razi of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal. These aspirants cannot be underestimated, keeping in mind that turnout is not expected to be much higher and a little margin of votes could make a big difference, but all depends upon how the voters react on the polling day.

NA-243 comprises areas of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Bahadurabad, Gilani Railway Station, Pehlwan Goth, New Dhoraji, Shanti Nagar, Metrovil, Jamal Colony, Sharfabad, Hasan Square, Mujahid Colony, Gulistan-e-Johar, the University of Karachi, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (Gulshan Campus), Liaqaut National Hospital, Agha Khan Hospital, Civic Centre, Faizan-e-Madina and Baitul Mukarram Mosque. MQM’s headquarters also falls in NA 243. The constituency of District East has 401,833 registered voters—211,168 male and 190,665 female. It covers two provincial constituencies, PS 101 and PS 101, where number of voters is 155,961 and 245,872, respectively.

The constituency has almost 90 percent areas of Old NA-253 which had remained a bastion of the MQM as its candidates, Syed Hyder Abbas Rizvi and Muhammad Muzammil Qureshi, now in PSP, won from here in 2008 and 2013, respectively.