A tough contest between PPP’s Makhdoom Tahir Rasheed and PTI’s Hassan Mustafa is on the cards as polling has begun in a by-election for NA-171, Rahim Yar Khan, and will continue until 5:00 in the evening on Thursday. Total seven candidates are competing for the seat, which had fallen vacant due to the death of PTI MNA Raees Mumtaz Mustafa Advocate. The party gave the ticket to the deceased’s son Hassan for the election. There are over 5,26,000 voters in the constituency.

In an important development before the elections, different groups of the Makhdoom family of Mianwali Quraishian buried their hatchet to regain the seat they had lost to the PTI-backed independent candidate Raees Mumtaz Mustafa Advocate, who secured over 1,38,000 votes in the general elections held on February 8, 2024. Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht and Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, instead of contesting the election themselves, threw their weight behind their cousin Makhdoom Shahabuddin’s son Makhdoom Tahir Rashid.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan