Muttahida, PPP, TLP ready to fight out NA-240 by-poll today.

KARACHI -- With little enthusiasm among residents and cautious campaigns by political parties amid low turnout expectations, over half a million registered voters of NA-240 are set to exercise their democratic and constitutional right today (Thursday) in the by-election, wherein among 25 contesting candidates the main fight is expected between the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) and Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

The by-polls in the National Assembly constituency that had fallen vacant after the death of MQM-P MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali in April though managed to attract interest of political parties, it couldn't create much electioneering during the campaigns compared to past trends.

As electoral history and voting trends in the neighbourhood suggest, other major parties like the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, better known as MQM-Haqiqi, and the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) despite having foothold though their organisational structures in the multi-ethnic constituency don't seems to have promising chances in today's by-poll.

The situation has left more space for leading contestants after the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the party with largest mandate from Karachi in 2018 polls and the Jamaat-i-Islami, which has gained enough political grounds recently due to aggressive campaign for urban rights, have decided to stay away from the electoral process in the NA-240.

With 529,855 registered voters, electioneering remained lacklustre in constituency

The NA-240 (Korangi Karachi II) comprises the areas which were once part of the former NA-255 and various areas of the NA-254 as the fresh constituency was created after delimitation of the constituencies on the basis of provisional results of the 2017 population census by amalgamating both former constituencies of National Assembly.

The total population of the constituency, as counted in 2017 census, stands at 853,973 while the registered voters in NA-240 are 529,855, including 294,385 male and 235,470 female voters.

A total of 309 polling stations and 1,236 polling booths are being set up for elections in the constituency. The Election Commission and security administration have declared 203 polling stations 'highly sensitive' and 106 as 'sensitive'.

Mainly dominated by Urdu speakers, the constituency has a moderate number of pockets of residents of other linguistic groups.

With total 25 candidates in the run, among them main contestants include Muhammad Abu Bakar of...