In 2018, the Herald magazine assigned me the responsibility to report on electoral contests in eight districts of Sindh, namely Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar, Tando Muhammad Khan, Matiari, Dadu, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, and Sanghar.
Because the magazine had space constraints, only the excerpts from those reports were published in Herald’s July 2018 issue while the rest of it — approximately 5000 words — remained unpublished.
I have finally decided, in 2025, to put them all online in their original form because firstly, I worked hard for them and traveled far and wide in the intense June heat of Sindh so I think they should not remain unused; and secondly, I hope, someone some day may find them usable for some project that they might be doing. If that holds true even for one person, then I think the reports will have achieved their purpose.
This is the third posts in this series of eight and is the electoral profile of Sindh’s district Sanghar, as written in the summer of 2018. The constituencies may have changed over the years and may not necessarily match with the current numbering.
By: Bilal Karim Mughal in Sanghar
Sanghar is one of the biggest districts of Pakistan. Situated north of Mirpurkhas and with westernmost area touching Pakistan’s border with India, Sanghar is often dubbed as the ‘Cotton Capital’ of Sindh, because there are about 150 cotton mills in the district.
Due to scarcity of water, however, the cotton crop this time (2018) has been severely affected. There have been migrations from the tail-end areas of Sanghar to Nooriabad, Karachi and other areas for laboring because lack of cotton crop means no business for cotton mills, which ultimately makes it difficult for the people to earn their livelihood.
The district has six talukas (subdistricts or tehsils) — Sanghar, Khipro, Tando Adam, Shahdadpur, Sinjhoro, Jam Nawaz Ali.
There are three national seats:
- NA-215 (previously NA-234), comprising Sanghar and Sinjhoro talukas
- NA-216 (previously NA-235) comprising Khipro and Jam Nawaz Ali talukas
- NA-217 (previously NA-236) comprising Tando Adam and Shahdadpur talukas
The six provincial seats are allocated to each of the talukas, making it one of the most straightforward electoral arrangements:
- PS-41 taluka Sanghar/Sanghar-I (previously PS-78 Sanghar-I)
- PS-42 taluka Khipro/Sanghar-II (previously PS-79 Sanghar-II),
- PS-43 taluka Jam Nawaz Ali/Sanghar-III (previously PS-80 Sanghar-III),
- PS-44 taluka Tando Adam/Sanghar-IV (previously PS-81 Sanghar-IV),
- PS-45 taluka Shahdadpur/Sanghar-V (previously PS-82 Sanghar-V)
- PS-46 taluka Sinjhoro/Sanghar-VI (previously PS-83 Sanghar-VI).
The district’s national and provincial seats mostly remain divided between the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarian (PPPP).
Sanghar, therefore, is a district where the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) will be in a relatively stronger position as compared to other districts because of its historic presence here.
For example, in 2013 elections, the PML-F won two national seats — Pir Bux Junejo and Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashidi at NA-234 (now NA-215) and NA-235 (now NA-216) respectively, and three provincial seats — Saeed Khan Nizamani at PS-78 (new PS-41), Waryyam Faqeer (Khalifa of Hur Jamaat) at PS-79 (now PS-42) and Haji Khuda Bux Rajar and PS-80 (new PS-43).
But Pir Sadaruddin Shah, current Pir Pagara’s brother, gave up his seat at NA-235, which Shazia Marri of the PPPP managed to win in the bye-elections, defeating PML-F candidate Khuda Bux Dars only by about 11,000 votes.
This time, the NA-215 is being contested by Saeed Khan Nizamani of the PML-F from the platform of GDA, and his rival is Naveed Dero of PPPP.
Nizamani had won at PS-78 in 2013 elections, securing 46,929 votes against 31,947 votes of his rival Choudhary Abid Farooque of the PPPP. The NA-215 comprises taluka Sanghar, Sinjhoro, and some areas of taluka Shahdadpur.
Dero hails from Tando Adam, which is included in the NA-217 whereas the constituency is the home-ground for Nizamani. Because of taluka Sinjhoro, this constituency has approximately 35,000 votes of the Punjabi-speaking Choudhary community and their affiliates whose vote is divided among PML-F and PPPP supporters.
Two big names from this group — Choudhary Abid and Choudhary Asim, candidates from PS-78 and PS-79 in 2013 respectively — haven’t got PPPP’s tickets this time, which has reportedly given rise to a resentment among the former candidates who had secured a sizable amount of votes in last elections.
It is to be seen if the community that used to vote for Choudharys will vote for the PPPP or if their vote will go somewhere else. This huge chunk of votes can play a decisive role in a district where winning margins are between 10,000 to 15,000 votes.
PPPP’s former MNA Shazia Marri is contending against Kishan Chand Parwani of the GDA at the NA-216 Khipro (previously NA-235) who has served as an MNA on a reserved seat for minorities in 2008-2013 term of the parliament on Pakistan Muslim League (PML)’s quota.
Shazia Marri had lost to Pir Sadaruddin Shah of the PML-F in 2013 general elections by 12,371 votes, but won the bye-elections defeating PPPP’s candidate by 10,447 votes. Competition seems to be strong here because it is said that Kishan Chand Parwani has strong rapport with the people.
Khipro also has a sizable minority community, which mostly voted for the PPPP in the last elections. It is to be seen if the candidature of a minority community member will tilt the results in favor of Parwani. Nevertheless, it is going to be a neck-to-neck competition as evident from past voting trends.
At the NA-217, Roshan Junejo is competing against Mahi Khan Wassan of the GDA, who has served as an MPA from 2002-2007 on the PML-F ticket. Junejo is seen as a strong candidate here because he secured 100,906 votes in 2013 elections, defeating Imamuddin Shouqeen of the PML-F by 15,374 votes.
Shouqeen is now a senator of PPPP, and local analysts see it difficult for the GDA to win the seat in absence of a strong candidate like Shouqeen in the past.
The provincial seats PS-41 — Khuda Bux Rajar (PML-F) vs Mashooq Chandio (PPPP), PS-42 — Shamsuddin Rajar (PML-F) vs Ali Hassan Hingorjo (PPPP) — and PS-46 —Waryyam Faqeer (PML-F) vs Rana Abdus Sattar (PPPP) — are projected as easy wins for the PML-F because of strong candidates and past winners like Khuda Bux Rajar and Waryyam Faqeer, and due to the strong presence of spiritual vote bank in these areas.
On the other hand, PS-43 and PS-44 are seen as a low-hanging fruit for the PPPP because of Jam Madad Ali (PPPP) at PS-43, who was elected as MPA in 2013, defected from the PML-F, joined PPPP, and then got elected again in bye-elections. His contention is against his cousin Jam Zulfiqar Ali of the GDA/PML-F.
At PS-44, PPPP has fielded Faraz Dero against Liaquat Mari of the GDA. Dero is the winner of old PS-82 Shahdadpur and is seen to have an understanding with the Malik community of Imamuddin Shouqeen in Tando Adam (now PS-44) which may help him win against Mari.
PPPP’s Shahid Khan Thaheem is competing against Muhammad Bux Khaskheli of the PML-F at PS-45 Shahdadupur.
Thaheem had defeated Khaskheli in 2013 elections by merely 6318 votes, which makes this constituency a tough battleground, also because Khaskheli is a local of Shahdadpur whereas Thaheem is a local of Tando Adam.
Accurate calls: NA-216, NA-217, PS-43, PS-44, PS-45, PS-46
Inaccurate calls: NA-215, PS-41, PS-42
