Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has announced the withdrawal of two candidates from the Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) LA-30 and LA-36 seats in favour of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The announcement was made by Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah while addressing a press conference with Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad in Karachi.

The MQM had boycotted the elections after the AJK Election Commission postponed polling in three constituencies, one in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and two in Karachi.

MQM ministers in the federal and Sindh provincial cabinets had also resigned from their posts, while MPAs had applied for opposition seats in the provincial assembly.

Earlier, MQM chief Altaf Hussain had asked Ebad to take back his resignation and resume his duties as Sindh Governor. A statement from the MQM said that President Asif Ali Zardari had called Altaf Hussain and requested him to allow Ebad back as governor, to which Hussain agreed.

The Sindh governor returned on a specially chartered plane from Dubai.