PPP, PML-N agree to field joint candidate for AJK PM slot

The PPP and PML-N have agreed to field joint candidates for the slots of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister, speaker and deputy speaker.

The two opposition parties have been in touch for parliamentary cooperation in the AJK Legislative Assembly.

Sources said the two parties would cooperate for reserved seats. The PML-N and PPP will each secure a seat reserved for women.

The sources added that the seat of the leader of the opposition would be bagged by the PPP.

PPP AJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar said it was decided in a meeting with PML-N leader and former prime minister Raja Farooq Haider that the two parties would cooperate with each other.

“The PPP and the PML-N will work under a joint strategy,” he added.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had rejected the results of the AJK polls, alleging that the elections were rigged.

Also read: PTI set to form next AJK govt after clinching most seats

Bilawal alleged that the election commission had failed to take action against the PTI for violating electoral rules.

"Despite this, PPP emerged as the largest opposition party in AJK with 11 seats, up from 3 seats last time. incredibly proud of PPPAJK for putting up a good fight," the PPP leader tweeted with a list of the party's winning candidates.

In a tweet, the PML-N de facto leader threw results of the violence-marred contest into a new chapter of acrimonious allegations, echoing the alarms she had sounded regarding “rigging attempts” during her election campaign across the state. Maryam solemnly said she has not accepted the results and will never accept them.

A day earlier, PPP Bilawal had criticised the PTI for “rigging and using money” in the recently concluded elections in AJK and warned that his party would give a tough time to the incoming government there.

Talking to PPP’s newly-elected lawmakers for the AJK Legislative Assembly in the federal capital, Bilawal said he would be contacting other opposition parties in the struggle against the PTI government, and expose the rigging in AJK polls inside and outside parliament.

Responding to a question, he said Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif had engaged with the PPP in a good manner.

He stressed that the opposition could use the democratic method of no-confidence to overthrow the Punjab government first and then PM Imran's government.