Muzafarabad/Web Desk:
PTI has emerged victorious in the elections to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, winning by a simple majority, according to unofficial, preliminary results. The party will consequently form a government in the region.
Although results of one constituency are pending, unofficial results showed PTI in the lead with 25 seats, PPP in second place with 11, and PML-N in third place with six seats. Both the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) and the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC) have also won one seat each.
Polling for 45 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Azad Kashmir started at 8 am and continued uninterrupted till 5 pm, on Sunday. A large number of male and female voters and people with disabilities came to cast their votes. The total number of voters in 45 constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir is 3.228 million. For which 6,114 polling stations have been set up in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan.
Strict security arrangements were made in Azad Kashmir, 40,000 police personnel performed election duty while the army was deployed at sensitive polling stations. To make the electoral process in Azad Kashmir transparent, 250 officers, including the presiding officers, were given powers equal to those of a magistrate.
According to Election Commission sources, the turnout was 58% in elections held on Sunday. According to the sources of the Election Commission of Azad Kashmir, in the elections of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf got the highest number of 613,590 votes, which is 32.5%. Pakistan Muslim League N (PMLN) polled 491,091 votes at the rate of 25.65% while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) polled 349,895 votes at the rate of 8.4 percent.
All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference got 153,861 votes which is 8.4%, the independent candidates got 133,136 votes and their turnout is 6.95. Tehreek-e-Lubaik Azad Kashmir got 94,487 votes which is 4.94.
PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz tweeted on the election results that I have not accepted the results and will not. I have not even accepted the results of 2018 nor have I accepted this fake government. The party will decide soon what will be the strategy for this ‘shameless rigging’.
On the results of the Azad Kashmir elections, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said in his tweet that the glorious victory of PTI in the Kashmir elections is an expression of unwavering confidence of the common man in Prime Minister Imran Khan. The opposition should reconsider its leadership and politics, people are not ready to accept Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif.
Talking to the media while reviewing the election process in Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Rashid Sulehria said that he was satisfied with all the arrangements for the elections. Everyone is subject to law, and it is the job of the administration to maintain law and order.
Abdul Rashid Sulehria said that there have been several violations of the Electoral Code of Conduct, political parties and candidates have also lodged several complaints, and these violations are being dealt with in accordance with the law.
Clashes also broke out between political activists during polling in Azad Kashmir and different parts of Pakistan. Two died in Kotli in firing. Apart from this, political heat was also seen in Muzaffarabad, Hatian Bala and Bagh, Gujranwala, Karachi, and Peshawar.
This post was originally published on VOSA.
