PML-N begins ticket deliberations for AJK polls

With more than 200 aspirants competing for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) tickets for 45 legislative assembly seats in the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections, the party on Friday convened a parliamentary board meeting to begin finalising candidates for the electoral contest.

The meeting, chaired by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, was attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

Members of the parliamentary board also included Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Pervaiz Rashid, Rana Sanaullah, Amir Muqam, Anusha Rahman, Muhammad Safdar Awan, Marriyum Aurangzeb and Birjees Tahir.

The leadership reviewed matters relating to the AJK elections and approved party candidates who, according to some media reports, are expected to be formally awarded tickets within the next four weeks.

According to the party's AJK chapter, a total of 210 individuals applied for PML-N tickets, averaging four to five aspirants per constituency, with notable exceptions.

LA-11 Sehnsa Tehsil in Kotli district attracted the highest number of applicants, with around 26 individuals seeking the party ticket.

Other exceptions included LA-25 and LA-7, where only one candidate applied in each constituency. The sole aspirants for those seats were the party's AJK president Shah Ghulam Qadir, who sought tickets for LA-25 and LA-26, and the party's general secretary Chaudhary Khalid Farooq, who applied for LA-7 Bhimber.

Former minister Mushtaq Minhas, who attended the huddle, told The Express Tribune that LA-11 Sehnsa had historically also been considered a constituency with a single dominant contender over multiple election cycles.

He said the seat had long remained a stronghold of Raja Naseer Ahmed Khan, whose sudden death created a vacuum that prompted many of his loyal supporters to seek the party nomination. Raja, he noted, had no son or daughter.

Minhas, a former television anchor, said it was traditionally uncommon in AJK politics for multiple candidates to seek party tickets from constituencies where the party's AJK president or general secretary intended to contest.

He said the ticket allocation process for the party's provincial leadership was usually treated as a formality, adding that Shah Ghulam Qadir's principal constituency was LA-25, which explained why candidates instead applied for LA-26.

Asked about the perception that AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan elections tend to favour the party in power at the centre, Minhas said the impression was not entirely accurate, though he acknowledged that PML-N remained a deeply rooted political force in AJK.

He noted that even when the party's representation dropped dramatically from 36 out of 49 seats to just six during PTI's tenure, a comparable number of aspirants still sought PML-N tickets.

Minhas said the upcoming contest in AJK was likely to be primarily between PML-N and PPP, despite both parties being allies in the federal government, arguing that PTI, which is the country's main opposition force, was in disarray in the region.

He added that a similar electoral dynamic was expected in Gilgit-Baltistan, where PPP and PML-N were also likely to emerge as the principal contenders.