Islamabad: Pakistan’s 2018 election was full of shockers but the biggest surprise was the defeat of young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari from Lyari, a longtime stronghold of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
Bilawal finished third in NA-246, a Karachi constituency his party has been winning since the 1970s.
The chairman of the oldest dynastic party Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and son of slain leader Benazir Bhtto, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was contesting from three National Assembly (NA) seats, managed to win only one from the PPP’s fort of Larkana as he also lost to the PTI in Malakand.
According to the results released by the Election Commission of Pakistan, Bilawal, whose family has a longtime association with Lyari area, could only get 39,325 votes against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Shakoor Shad who won the seat by bagging 52,750 votes. What’s more surprising is that Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan’s Ahmed also received more votes than Bilawal and stole the second spot from him.
The young Bhutto could only manage to get to third place in the electoral race, making it one of the most embarrassing defeats for the party in an area that has voted exclusively for the PPP. The PPP also lost two provincial assembly seats of Lyari — PS-107 and PS-108.
Analyst Mazhar Abbas termed the defeat in Lyari as “PPP’s biggest setback since 1970.” Political analysts connect this massive defeat of PPP with the deprived state of affairs in Lyari. Earlier during the election campaign in July, 29-year-old Bilawal also had to face the wrath of disgruntled voters when he visited Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, PPP leaders refused to accept the results and termed it as “massive rigging” and a conspiracy against the party. Sherry Rehman, along with Senator Raza Rabbani and other senior leaders of the party, addressed a press conference. “All political parties except PTI are being pushed to the wall,” she said.
“The election has become controversial,” said Rabbani. “Majority of the political parties have rejected the results. We are consulting various parties to devise the next course of action,” he said.
Where did Bilawal contest from?
Bilawal contested the first election of his political career from three NA constituencies: NA-246 Karachi South 1, NA-8 Malakand and NA-200 Larkana 1.
This is how he fared:
NA-246 Karachi South 1
PTI’s Abdul Shakoor Shad topped the NA-246 Karachi South 1 constituency with 52,750 votes and was followed by Ahmed Bakhsh of TLP who gained 42,345 votes. Bilawal finished third with 39,325 votes.
NA-8 Malakand
Bilawal lost to PTI candidate Junaid Akbar in NA-8 Malakand, who won with 81,310 votes. The PPP chairman was the runner-up with 43,724 votes.
NA-200 Larkana 1
Bilawal won the polls from the PPP’s stronghold of Larkana with 84,426 votes. MMA’s Rashid Mehmood Soomro garnered 50,200 votes to be ranked second. PTI came in third with 8,661 votes.
