Constituency NA-246 (Karachi-VIII) is a constituency for the National Assembly of Pakistan. In the elections of 2013, Nabeel Ahmed Gobal won this seat with 137,874 votes on the ticket of MQM (Mutaheda Qoumi Movement) but later he resigned from his seat by saying that he found himself misfit in MQM. Previously, he was the member of PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) and then in 2013 few months before the General elections he joined MQM.
The NA-246 consists of Federal B Area, Liaquatabad, Moosa Colony, Bhangoria Goth, and Gulshan-i-Shamim, Al-Azam Square, Block-1 Sharifabad, Gharibabad, Ishaqabad and Bundhani Colony, FC Area, Punjabi Colony, Apsara Apartment, Al-Karam Square, Gharibabad, A-1 Cottages and Yaseenabad, Old Gharibabad and Sikandara. The total number of registered votes is 366813 which include 200149 male voters and 166664 female voters.
Parties including PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf), MQM, JI (Jameet-e- Islami) are eyeing on this seat. This is the traditional seat of MQM; MQM never lost this seat since it is included in the electoral arena because NA-246 mostly consists of Urdu speaking community which favors MQM.
MQM is giving its best to win this seat as it cannot afford to be defeated in the constituency which is considered to be their stronghold from decades but due to the incidents like money laundering case against the leader of MQM Altaf Husain, raid of Rangers on nine zero (main sector of MQM) where they found unlicensed advanced weapons, Saulat Mirza case and Baldia town case shaken the ground of MQM weakend the strength of MQM in this Area.
All the parties are holding rallies to attract the voters. PTI is having more chances as PTI had secured second position in the election of 2013 by claiming 31,875 votes.
The Pakistan Rangers, Sindh, asked the home department to take measures for the installation of a biometric verification system and a video surveillance of every polling station in the Azizabad constituency of NA-246 to ensure “free, fair and transparent” election on April 23 but their request for biometric system has been turned down by the ECP (Election Commission of Pakistan)
DETAILS OF THE CANDIDATES
| Candidate Name | Party |
| Kanwar Naveed Jamil | MQM |
| Rashid Naseem | JI |
| Imran Ismail | PTI |
| Usman Muazzam | Independent |
| Aslam Shah | Independent |
| Ashraf Qureishi | Independent |
| Muhammad Mehfoz Yar Khan | Independent |
| Parviez Ali | Independent |
| Azhar Ul Hassan Qadri | Independent |
| Syed Usman Ali | Independent |
| Seema Zarain | Independent |
| Abdul Sattar Ansari | Independent |
| Muhammad Ayub | Independent |
| Muazzam Zafar | Independent |
NA-246 by-polls is the hot topic in the politics of Karachi and Pakistan these days but ensuring a free and fair elections will be the real task for ECP and Rangers. After the rigging allegations of Nabeel Gabol on MQM, national and international media will also be closely monitoring the polling in this constituency and any rigging plan or efforts can start another debate on the electoral system of Pakistan.
