City polls. Photo: AFP
HYDERABAD:
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) looked set to maintain its electoral supremacy in the PS-9 constituency by-polls in Shikarpur district on Sunday as early and unofficial results indicated that the PPP’s candidate was leading his opponent by a thumping margin.
The seat had fallen vacant on the death of PPP stalwart and former Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani. His son, Agha Shahbaz Khan Durrani contested the seat on the PPP ticket.
The unofficial count of the total 178 polling stations put the number of votes of PPP’s Agha Shahbaz Khan Durrani at 73,954.
His opponent from Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Syed Rushdullah Shah got 9,412 votes in the same polling stations.
Although nine candidates landed in the fray, some serious battle was expected between Durrani and Shah.
The victory celebrations started at the Durrani election camp early on Sunday evening. Reports were given in the camp that Shah has even been defeated by Durrani.
As many as 277,792 people were registered to vote in the PS-9 Shikarpur III seat which spreads to Garhi Yaseen, Madeji and Dakhan areas. They include 148,310 male and 129,482 female voters.
The Election Commission of Pakistan had set up 80 combined polling stations and 49 each for men and women. Among these, 54 were declared highly sensitive and another 84 as sensitive. Over 3,000 policemen, led by SSPs from the Larkana police range, were deployed for security at the polling stations.
In a celebratory note, Durrani thanked the voters of the constituency for once again reposing their trust in the PPP and his family.
Shah, meanwhile, blamed the local authorities for colluding with the PPP’s candidate and his supporters to rig the election. He also blamed the opposition for the disappearance of his two polling agents from Tarai polling station.
