PPP’s Dada Muhammad Halepoto wins PS-70 by-poll

F.P. Report

BADIN: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Thursday routed the JUI-F and GDA candidates in the PS-70 Mathali by-election in Badin.

PPP candidate Dada Muhammed Halepoto won the by-election after securing 44,893 votes, according to unofficial results.

JUI-F candidate Moulana Gul Hassan came in second with 6,342 votes.

The seat had fallen vacant after PPP MPA Bashir Ahmed Halepoto died on March 23.

Halepoto was first elected from PS-55 in 2013 and then re-elected from PS-70 during the 2018 General Election. He was also a member of the Sindh Assembly Standing Committee on Labour and Human Resources.

After his death, the Bilawal Bhutto Zardari-led party nominated his nephew Dada Muhammad Halepoto to contest the by-election against JUI-F candidate Moulana Gul Hassan and 10 other candidates.

The constituency has 166,809 voters out of which 91,587 are male and 75,222 are female.

For today’s by-polls there were 123 polling stations set up, out of which 41 were declared sensitive, while 12 were deemed as highly sensitive. Considering the situation, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) deployed 1,671 policemen and 395 Rangers personnel.

The deployed personnel bore fruits as no any untoward incident was reported from any of the polling station, however some heated exchange of words between supporters of the contesting candidates was reported.

In today’s polling, 57,620 votes were cast with the turnout coming out to 35.07%.

In the 2018 general Election, late Basheer Ahmed Halepoto had secured 44,385 while GDA candidate Riaz Ahmed secured 22,967 votes. 

Soon after the victory, the PPP chairman took to Twitter to celebrate his party’s win in the by-poll.