What is the biggest problem for the residents of Karachi's NA-249?

KARACHI: Voters in the NA-249 constituency in Karachi have identified water scarcity as the most important issue in the area in a survey by three research companies. 

Water shortage needs the attention of political parties, the residents said. The three research companies that conducted the survey include Gallup Pakistan, Ipsos, and Pulse Consultants. They surveyed more than 3,000 registered voters from NA-249. All three surveys were conducted between April 10 and April 20, 2021.

By-elections are scheduled to take place in the NA-249 this Thursday (April 29), with 30 contestants running for the National Assembly seat.

Karachi by-election: NA-249 residents want to know what will be done to solve water problems

Last month, the ECP had announced the schedule for by-polls in NA-249 after PTI's Faisal Vawda resigned from the NA seat.

Vawda had resigned after casting his vote in the Senate elections on March 3. He had won the seat during the 2018 general election after securing 35,344 votes.

In the Pulse Consultant survey, 96% of people cited the unavailability and scarcity of clean water as the most important problem in the region, 71% termed load shedding the most important issue, 71% said broken roads were a problem, 56% deemed sewerage system as the most important problem, 20% said unemployment, 20% said the issue of gas load shedding needs to be addressed,  14% said a poor education system is the most important issue, 14% opted for inflation, while 3% said poor sanitation is the most important issue in their constituency. 

Likewise, in the Ipsos poll, voters put water and its related issues at the top of the list, with 36% citing lack of clean water as a major problem in the area. 

A poor drainage system was picked by 26% of the respondents, while 39% blamed power outages, 31% unemployment, 23% dilapidated roads, 18% poor road conditions, 16% poor garbage collection, 14% gas load shedding and 9% inflation. 

Read more: Who was named favourite leader by NA-249 voters ahead of April 29 by-polls?

In the last survey by Gallup Pakistan, the majority — 69% — had a problem with a lack of clean water, while 10% of the residents wanted the issue of power outages addressed. Broken roads were selected by 6% of the respondents, poor sanitation by 5%, poverty by 3%, unemployment by 2%, education problems by 2%, corruption by 1% and poor law and order by 1%.