Polling for AJK election ends, counting begins

As many as 423 candidates, from 44 political parties, are running for 41 seats in the 49-member AJK assembly

Counting of votes for 41 directly-contested seats of the Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly has begun as voting concluded at 5pm on Thursday.

AJK Chief Election Commissioner Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal visited polling stations in Muzaffarabad, reported Radio Pakistan.

Mughal said no complaint of mishap or violence was reported during the polling from anywhere in the valley.

He thanked the federal government and Pakistan Army for ensuring the transparent conduct of polls.

An elderly Kashmiri casts his ballot at a polling station in the general elections in Muzaffarabad on July 21, 2016. PHOTO: AFP



The AJK elections were held after aggressive campaigns by contesting parties that saw scathing verbal duels and bloody violence prompting deployment of army troops for a peaceful conduct of the democratic exercise.

As many as 423 candidates, from 44 political parties, are running for the seats in the 49-member AJK Legislative Assembly.

The contestants include four former prime ministers and over a dozen ministers of the state. Over 2.67 million people are registered to vote including 1.48 million men and 1.19 million women.

Of the 41 seats up for grabs, 12 are reserved for refugees from Indian-controlled Kashmir in Pakistan.

According to a breakup, two seats each are in Karachi and Rawalpindi, and one each in Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat and Multan.

Some 438,884 registered voters, among them 254,817 men and 184,067 women, will elect their representatives on these seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muslim Conference (MC), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are the most notable among the 44 registered political parties in AJK.