PS-88 Malir by election-emphatic victory for PPP

 Humiliating defeat for PTI candidate

PPP candidate Yousuf Murtaza Baloch has won the by election in PS-88 Malir constituency in Karachi with bagging 24,251 votes, according to unofficial and unverified results of all 108 polling stations of this constituency.  PPP candidate won the election with wide margin of nearly 17,000 votes. The turnout remained around 27% in the by election. 

The PTI candidate Jansher suffered humiliating defeat. He even failed to secure his deposit with the election commission. He could only manage to secure 4,870 votes and finished behind TLP candidate.  

 Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan candidate Syed Kashif Ali Shah bagged 6,090 votes and remained runner up. While Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Sajid Ahmed only got 2,635 votes. 

Twenty candidates took part in the by-elections in Karachi’s PS-88 Malir. 16 independent candidates also contested the by-polls. The polling started at 8:00 am and ended at 5:00 pm.

In 2018 elections Ghulam Murtaza Baloch of PPP had emerged victorious from the constituency by bagging more than 22,000 votes against Muhammad Rizwan Khan of the PTI who got 16,386 votes. But this time PTI candidate bagged 12,000 less votes compare to general elections 2018. 

The seat fell vacant after Murtaza Baloch, the minister for human settlement, died of Covid-19 on June 2, 2020.

The PPP has given ticket to his son, Yousuf Murtaza Baloch, to contest the by-election. There are a total of 145,627 registered voters in the constituency (81,425 male and 64,202 female).

The constituency consists of mainly suburbs of Karachi in Malir which include Memon Goth, Haji Faqeer Muhammad Village, a few neighbourhoods of Malir Colony, Model Colony and a tiny part of Gulistan-i-Jauhar, where the PPP has maintained a winning streak in the last four general elections. The PPP successfully retained its seat. 

                                                                      Khalid Bhatti