MQM retakes NA, PA seats in Karachi by-election
Afzal Khan/Islamabad
Filed on April 9, 2016 | Last updated on April 9, 2016 at 08.28 am
The PTI which had received stunning over 800,000 votes in 2013 national elections suffered a steady decline since then manifested in local government and two by-elections.
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Muttahida Qaumi Movement's candidates stomped home to victory in the by-elections for NA-245 and PS-115 in Karachi, overcoming the recent spate of defections and the general apathy that sparked a low turnout in Thursday's polls.
According to unofficial results, MQM's Kamal Malick bagged 39,597 votes to secure NA-245. His closest rival, Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) Shahid Hussain, could secure just 3,116 votes.
The NA-245 constituency became interesting when Malick's main opponent, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf's (PTI) Amjadullah Khan, withdrew at the last minute in favour of the MQM candidate and joined the latter's party. Despite his withdrawal, he received 1,489 votes.
The PTI which had received stunning over 800,000 or 26% votes in 2013 national elections has suffered steady decline since then manifested in local government and two by-elections.
The constituency is considered to be a stronghold of the MQM. In the May 2013 general elections, MQM's Rehan Hashmi had secured the seat with 115,776 votes, defeating the runner-up PTI candidate with a margin of 60,839 votes. He, however, had resigned from his seat after winning in last year's local government elections.
Meanwhile, in PS-115, MQM's Faisal Rafiq bagged around 11,747 votes to beat MQM-Haqiqi's Jameel Qadri who secured 1,381 votes. PTI's Amjad Jah bagged only 1,210 votes while PPP's Saeed Chawla could win only 475 votes.
PS-115 was last held by MQM's Arshad Vohra who is now the party's nominee for Karachi's deputy mayor. In 2013, Vohra won the seat after bagging 55,804 votes.
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