Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has won 25 seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Elections securing a simple majority in AJK Legislative Assembly amidst rigging allegations from PPP and PML-N.
Unofficial results are in for all constituencies, except LA-16 Bagh which have been withheld, according to AJK Election Commission Secretary Muhammad Ghazanfar Khan.
A total of 587 candidates contested the elections in 33 constituencies of Azad Kashmir districts and 121 candidates on 12 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir refugees settled in Pakistan.
The voter turn-out was recorded at 58% as compared to the turnout of the 2016 election, which was 65%.
The number of total registered voters was 3.2 million, out of which 1.7 million were male and 1.4 million were female voters.
The total number of votes polled was 1, 931,724, whereas 17,418 votes were rejected.
PTI bagged 32.05% of the votes while PML-N and PPP secured 25.65 and 18.28% votes respectively.
According to unofficial results, party position in AJK Elections is as follows;
- PTI – 25 seats
- PPP – 11 seats
- PML-N – 6 seats
Meanwhile, both the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party (JKPP) and the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (AJKMC) have also won one seat each.
By winning 25 seats out of the total 45, PTI has emerged as the largest party essentially securing simple majority in the AJK Legislative Assembly.
Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry, Khawaja Ahmed Farooq, Sardar Tanvir Ilyas, Diwan Khan Chughtai, Chaudhry Arshad and Ch Anwar-ul-Haq have won their seats.
PML-N candidates Raja Farooq Haider and Shah Ghulam Qadir have also retained their seats.
Ex-prime minister of AJK and chief of AJKMC Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan has been declared successful on LA-14 Bagh.
Separately, AJK Election Commission has ordered re-polling at four polling stations of LA-16 Bagh.
Future Politics Of AJK
Following PTI’s landslide victory in AJK Legislative Assembly elections, PTI AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood and billionaire real estate tycoon, Sardar Tanveer Ilyas are amongst the favorites to become AJK Prime Minister.
Barrister Mahmood has won the AJK Legislative Assembly seat from his parent Mirpur LA-3 constituency by defeating his nearest rival Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed of PML-N by 3,147 votes, while Sardar Tanveer emerged victorious from his Bagh constituency.
Mahmood has been elected to the AJKLA 8 times and had also been the prime minister when he was associated with the PPP. He joined the PTI in 2015 when he was a PPP member of the AJKLA.
Sardar Tanveer relatively new to PTI and at present is serving as special assistant to the Punjab chief minister on investment.
PPP, PML-N’s Rigging Allegations
Both Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N have rejected the election results while accusing PTI of election rigging and fraud.
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif have alleged that the PTI won the Kashmir polls through rigging and rejected the results of the elections.
PTI resorted to violence and rigging in AJK Elections2021. ECP failed to take action vs PTI for violating electoral rules, tweeted PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto.
Meanwhile, PML-N President and NA Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif has said that the people will remember the way the election code was violated and transparency and impartiality were made irrelevant throughout the day.
Election code was violated and rules of transparency and impartiality were ridiculed in the AJK Legislative Assembly Elections, he said.
