PML-N’s Amir Altaf bags LA-18 seat

PPP and PTI candidates are the runner-ups in the constituency

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Amir Altaf on Sunday won the by-election from LA -18 Poonch-Sudhanoti-II constituency in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

According to unofficial results, Altaf secured 20,688 votes against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate and former AJK Legislative Assembly speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq, who managed 14,613 votes.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Sardar Sawar Khan got 3,119 votes, whereas All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference’s (AJKMC)  Sardar Kashan Masood and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party (AJKPP) candidate Sardar Nizam Khan managed 3,188 and 1,331 votes respectively.

Pakistan Peoples Party AJK chapter President Chaudhry Latif Akbar categorically rejected the by-elections results. He said despite the ban on government officials for not entering into the  LA-18 Poonch-Sudhanoti-II constituency, AJK premier Raja Farooq Haider Khan along with cabinet colleagues stayed in the constituency for more than three weeks and Election Commission failed to take any notice against them.

The PPP President in AJK Akbar said that AJK Prime Minister Farooq Haider Khan appointed his close relative Farooq Niaz as member AJK Election Commission. He added that they did not expect clean elections after such appointments.