With just ten days remaining until the polling, electoral fervour in Karachi is palpable. Various political parties and candidates have intensified their efforts to mobilise voters.

Prominent leaders of these parties are immersed in rigorous campaigns, pledging to address local issues and concerns and fulfil promises made to the citizens once they are elected.

With 581 candidates in the run for the 22 National Assembly seats in Karachi, the city holds a pivotal role in determining the composition of the federal government.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf suffered a significant setback when the Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld the Election Commission’s decision to deny it a symbol over its failure to hold intrparty elections to its satisfaction. It nominees are now participating in the election as independent candidates. This development is likely to favour the rival parties in close contests.

Jamaat-i-Islami, which did well in the local government elections in the absence of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan has mountd a lively campaign. However, it is too early to say whether the apparent increased in its vote bank will translate into parliamentary seats.

Karachi, the largest city in the country, is divided into seven districts—South, East, West, Central, Malir, Korangi and Keamari.

District East has the largest number of candidades in the field; 120, contesting four National Assembly seats.

District Central follows close behind with 113 candidates vying for five NA seats.

Key candidates include JI’s city chief Hafiz Naeem-ur Rehman and Meraj-ul-Huda Siddiqui; MQM-P’s Khalid Maqbool, Dr Farooq Sattar and Syed Mustafa Kamal; Pakistan Peoples Party’s Nabil Gabol and Saleem Mandviwalla; and PTI’s Sindh chief Haleem Adil and Syed Firdous Shamim Naqvi.

The News on Sunday spoke to several voters about what they believed to be the main issues.

Khateeb Ahmed, a resident of District Central, said that he was dissatisfied with the performance of the previous government. “Even after the local body elections, the elected representatives failed to deliver services in this constituency,” he said.

“The entire district has a perennial garbage crisis. Little has been done to improve the situation,” complained Ahmed, “In addition to the trash, there are damaged roads. Pakistan Peoples Party won from here in the last elections but nothing was done about the main road.”

“The entire district has a perennial garbage crisis. Little has been done to improve the situation,” complains Ahmed. “In addition to the trash, there are damaged roads. Pakistan Peoples Party won from here in the last elections, but nothing was done about the main road.” 

He said, “Our representatives did not do much for us. For that reason, I expect the PPP to lose some of its voters to the JI and the PTI.”

“Some of the candidates do not belong to the constituency. They reside in posh areas of the city and come here only for their campaigns. To be fair, I’m not very hopeful about them. I don’t think they’ll be able to solve our problems even if they were voted in,” said Ahmed. He said he would likely be voting for the JI. “They may take our issues more seriously,” he said.

NA-246 West has traditionally been an MQM stronghold. Last year, its candidate Amin-ul Haq won the seat. Taha Naushad, a resident of this constituency, said that he was hoping the water supply issue would be resolved. “The water supply crisis is getting worse. It is affecting our daily lives. For the past fifteen years, 70 percent of the constituency’s area has been deprived of safe drinking water. Even in the areas fortunate enough to receive it, the supply is meager and often contaminated with sewage.”

“Another problem is the Orange Line project. It has been more of a curse than a blessing,” complained Naushad, “The project has been causing disruptions in traffic flow. Instead of serving the public, it has become an additional burden on the public exchequer.”

For NA-235 in District East, the main contest is likely to be between JI’s Meraj-ul-Huda Siddiqui and MQM-P’s Mohammad Iqbal Khan. Siddiqui told TNS that his party was committed to resolving the problems faced by the people. He outlined the party’s priorities, notably the completion of the K4 project. He also talked of the necessity of a census to accurately account for the city’s population growth over the last 19 years.

Identifying load shedding as a primary issue, Siddiqui blamed K-Electric for imposing inflated bills on the citizens. He also lambasted the Karachi Traffic Police, saying that they were “prioritising revenue collection over enforcement of traffic rules.” Siddiqui said JI planned to establish an IT CITY and set up new universities and colleges to promote freelance learning and technical skills.

In the 2018 elections, the PTI had remarkably beaten the MQM-P in Karachi, winning 14 of the city’s 21 National Assembly seats and 22 out of the 43 Provincial Assembly seats. With PTI candidates running as independents, the outcomes could be vastly different.

The author is a freelance contributor. He can be reached at arslanshahzad882 @gmail.com