Provincial elections were held in Sindh on 8 February 2024 to elect a new provincial legislature. On 5 August 2023, after the approval of the results of the 2023 digital census by the Council of Common Interests headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, elections have been delayed for several months, as new delimitations will be published on 14 December 2023. On 2 November 2023, the Election Commission of Pakistan announced, in agreement with the President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, that the elections should be held on 8 February 2024. This election was held concurrently with nationwide general elections and other provincial elections.
Background In the 2018 election, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) won 99 seats, gaining a majority in the Provincial Assembly. It became the third consecutive time that the PPP was able to form government in Sindh Since 2008.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) became the largest party in Karachi by winning 21 out of 44 seats from the city. It was the first time since 1988 that any party other than the MQM-P got the mandate to represent the city on the provincial and national levels. Overall, the PTI won 30 seats and became the second largest party, and the largest party in the opposition.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P), which was the largest and most popular party in Karachi, Hyderabad and other urban areas of Sindh, faced a tough challenge from the rising popularity of the PTI and received its worst ever result. It won only 21 seats and became the third largest party in the province. The MQM-P also opted to join the opposition.
In April 2022, after circumstances arising during a political crisis in Pakistan after the successful no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan, the MQM-P left the opposition and joined the PPP-led provincial government.
In September 2022, Former Prime Minister and Leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan announced to liberate Sindh from Zardari Mafia. He stated that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will team up with the youth to liberate the poor and oppressed people of Interior Sindh from Feudal lords of Pakistan People's Party. This was the very first time some party leader threatened dominance of People's Party in Sindh and upcoming election will be a battle for survival of PPP in interior Sindh as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has support of the people of Karachi and Hyderabad and will be able to gain seats in Interior Sindh if they campaign well.
Merger of MQM factions Since the appointment of Kamran Tessori as the Governor of Sindh, efforts began to merge breakaway factions of the MQM-P like the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) and the Farooq Sattar group back into the MQM-P to unite their vote bank to overcome the growing popularity of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan - Haqiqi (MQM-H) was also approached, but refused to merge with the MQM-P.
On the evening of 12 January 2023 Syed Mustafa Kamal, the leader of the PSP, and Farooq Sattar announced their merger with the MQM-P in a press conference.
Ban on PTI from contesting as a party On 22 December 2023, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) decided against letting the PTI retain its electoral symbol, arguing that the party had failed to hold intra-party elections. On 22 December, the PTI approached the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the ECP's order and hence, a single-member bench suspended the ECP's order until 9 January 2024. On 30 December 2023, the ECP filed a review application within the PHC, and days later, a two-member bench withdrew the suspension order as it heard the case. However, on 10 January 2024, the two-member bench had declared the ECP's order to be "illegal, without any lawful authority, and of no legal effect. On 11 January, the ECP challenged this ruling in the Supreme Court, and on 13 January, a three-member bench ruled in favor of the ECP and stripped the PTI of its electoral symbol. As a consequence of this ruling, the PTI could not allot party tickets to any of its candidates. Therefore, all candidates of the party will be listed as independent candidates and each will have a different electoral symbol.
Schedule The schedule of the election was announced by the Election Commission of Pakistan on 15 December 2023.
Sr noPoll EventSchedule1Public Notice Issued by the Returning Officers19 December 20232Dates of filing Nomination papers with the Returning Officers by the candidates20 December 2023 to 24 December 20233Publication of names of the nominated candidates.24 December 20234Last date of scrutiny of nomination papers by the Returning Officer25 December 2023 to 30 December 20235Last date of filing appeals against decisions of the Returning Officer rejecting/accepting nomination papers.3 January 20246Last date for deciding of appeals by the Appellate Tribunal10 January 20247Publication of revised list of candidates11 January 20248Last date of withdrawal of candidate and publication of revised list of candidates12 January 20249Allotment of election symbol to contesting candidates13 January 202410Date of Polling and Counting of Votes8 February 2024 Electoral system The 168 seats of the Sindh Assembly consist of 130 general seats, whose members are elected by the first-past-the-post voting system through single-member constituencies. 29 seats are reserved for women and 9 seats are reserved for non-Muslims. The members on these seats are elected through proportional representation based on the total number of general seats secured by each political party.
Opinion polls Polling firmLast dateof pollingLinkPPPPTIMQM(P)PML-NMMALeadSamplesizeUndecideds &Non-votersPA11 August 2023The Provincial Assembly is dissolved by Governor Kamran Tessori on the advice of Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.Gallup Pakistan30 June 2023PDF35%36%2%3%1% 23%1%3,500N/A NA11–12 April 2022 Imran Khan is removed from office in a no-confidence motionIPOR (IRI) PDF44%17%5%7%27%27%~810N/AGallup PakistanPDF21%18%2%9%3%33%1%3%~1,30013%IPOR (IRI) PDF44%13%7%3%33%31%867N/AIPOR (IRI) PDF 22%13%1%9%3%52%9%467N/A2018 Elections ECP38.4% 14.5%7.7%2.0%6.0%24.0%7.4%23.6%10,025,437N/ADirectly elected seats76231601GDA 11 TLP 21 post.53Women: 29 / non-Muslims: 9 Total =168 seatsECP 2024 Gen.Elections delimitations for Sindh PA seats: 130 directly elected + 29 women + 9 non-Muslims = 168
Results Result by party PartyPopular voteSeatsGeneralReservedTotal+/−Votes%±ppContestedWonIndependents joinedTotalWomenNon-Muslims PPP5,228,67846.117.771308548920611516 MQM-P905,8967.990.348828028623615PTI1,105,2439.754.721131091218 GDA1,399,13712.342.777520210311 JIP708,4136.25N/A1022020021TLP329,7152.911.601190000003PMLN188,4731.660.3451000000 IPP49510.04N/A28000000MQM-L103,5920.91N/A54000 0 PRHP 921,1598.122.09 0 3 −300IND0000Total11,338,919100%130299168Valid votes11,338,919Invalid votesVotes cast/ turnoutAbstentionsRegistered voters26,994,769Source: Election Commission of Pakistan
Results by region RegionSeatsPPPMQM-P PTIJIP GDAINDOthersUpper Sindh4439000230Lower Sindh3935310000Karachi47112592000Total1308528102230
Results by division
DivisionTotal seatsPPPMQM-P PTIJIPGDAINDOthersLarkana1716000010Sukkur1411000120Nawabshah1312000100Mirpur Khas1111000000Hyderabad282431000Karachi47112592000Total1308528102230
Results by district
DivisionDistrictSeatsPPPMQM-P PTIJIP GDAINDOthersLarkanaJacobabad32000010Kashmore33000000Shikarpur33000000Larkana44000000Qambar Shahdadkot44000000SukkurGhotki42000020Sukkur44000000Khairpur65000100NawabshahNaushahro Feroz44000000Nawabshah44000000Sanghar54000100Mirpur KhasMirpur Khas44000000Umerkot33000000Tharparkar44000000HyderabadMatiari22000000Tando Allahyar22000000Hyderabad62310000Tando Muhammad Khan22000000Jamshoro33000000Dadu44000000Badin55000000Sujawal22000000Thatta22000000KarachiMalir65010000Korangi71231000East91800000South51130000Keamari52120000West61500000Central90801000Total1308528102230
Results by constituency