Barrister Sultan Mahmood casts his vote during the AJK by-polls. PHOTO: NNI
MUZAFFARABAD: Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry, the president of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), retained his seat in the region’s Legislative Assembly by defeating his rival in a by-election on Sunday.
According to unofficial results, Barrister Chaudhry secured 15,485 votes while his rival Chaudhry Ashraf of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PP) bagged 12,559 votes in the by-election for LA-3 (Mirpur). The PML-N candidate had withdrawn from the race in favour of Ashraf.
Results of all the 111 polling stations were out in the poll which saw a 40% turnout. The polling took place peacefully from 8am to 4pm without any break. There are 68,815 registered voters in the constituency. Around 3,000 policemen were deployed to maintain order during the polling.
Barrister Sultan, who had won this seat on a PPP ticket in last elections, resigned from the Legislative Assembly after joining Imran Khan’s PTI.
Chaudhry alleged that the AJK government had used all the resources at its disposal to defeat him but the people of Mirpur rejected the government-backed candidate. He said the credit for his victory goes to the politically mature PTI workers who worked day and night to ensure their party’s entry in the AJK parliamentary system.
Imran Khan also felicitated his workers over Barrister Chaudhry’s victory. “Want to congratulate all Pakistanis. Today PTI exposed Muk Muka Charter in guise of democracy in AJK. Took 2 wickets, PMLN/PPP, with 1 ball,” he said on Twitter.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2015.
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