Sujawal the district located along the coastline of the Arabian Sea was given the status of a separate revenue district in 2013 after carving it out from historically rich district Thatta.
The district comprises one national assembly and two provincial assembly seats. The Pakistan People’s Party in order to maintain its political dominance in the coastal region of the province has given preference to the Shirazi family over its stalwart leaders who stood by the party during hard times.
In the past the highly influential Shirazi family had made things strenuous for PPP especially during the general elections of 2002, 2008 and 2013 in Thatta and Sujawal districts.
During 2008 general elections when Sujawal was part of Thatta district and the areas of Sujawal comprising one national assembly and two provincial assembly seats PPP failed to secure even a single seat despite holding sincere public sympathy following assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
The general elections of 2013 also could not change things for PPP in Sujawal district and all its candidates were defeated by Shirazis and their ally Muhammad Ali Malkani. Finding no other way PPP joined hands with both Shirazi and Malkani clans for general elections of 2018 and that coalition still continues despites glitches on several occasions. As many as 35 candidates are gearing up for three seats of the district in the upcoming elections.
The constituency of PS -73 Sujawal-I encompasses Sujawal city, Belo, Darro, Mirpur Bathoro and Jhoke Sharif areas of the district.
While PS: 74 Sujawal-II include Jati, Chuhar Jamali, Latiyon, Chach and Shahbunder. Around 15 candidates are in the race for Ps: 74 but Pakistan Peoples Party’s candidate who was once its bitter rival is expected to take the better of his opponents on the polling day. Same goes with PS: 73 where Shah Hussain Shah Shirazi looks in a comfortable position.
Ayaz Shah Shirazi, the candidate of PPP for NA: 224, is expected to register a landslide victory as he did in 2018. As per the data collected by this correspondent JUI-F is likely to emerge the second most powerful party in terms of grabbing votes on the election day. For the past two decades the people of Sujawal district have been confronting multiple challenges. Crumbling standard of education, poor administration, lack of coordination between government functionaries and people during natural disasters, shortage of water, poor law and order and frail infrastructure had remained the key issues of the district. The Shirazi clan tried to bring infrastructural development in the district but there is still a long way to go.
