Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Abdur Rashid Sulehria on Thursday announced that the 11th general elections for the legislative assembly of the territory would be held on July 25, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad, he added four new constituencies had been added this time to a total of 45 constituencies, out of which 33 were of the locals while the remaining 12 were of migrants from the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

Around 28, 17, 90 people of the AJK would exercise their right to vote in the elections.

There are 15, 19, 347 male voters in the territory while the female voters’ numbers stand at 12, 97, 743.

The CEC said that the candidates could file their nomination papers till 4 PM on June 21st, while scrutiny of these papers would be completed by June 26, and these would be returned by July 2, if rejected. “Objections to the nomination papers could be filed till June 27 while the final list would be displayed on July 3,” the CEC informed.

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) had recommended on May 30 a two-month delay in Azad Kashmir elections in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The NCOC wrote a letter to the AJK Election Commission chief recommending a two-month delay in the election. The letter said the election could cause a spread of coronavirus cases.

NCOC said that only a million populations could be vaccinated by year-end. It said that the spread rate of coronavirus cases was already high in Azad Kashmir so the elections in July could spread the cases. It proposed a delay of two months so the maximum population could be vaccinated. 

A couple of days ago, Azad Jammu Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said that just like by-polls held in Pakistan despite the pandemic, elections in Azad Kashmir should also be conducted and cannot be postponed.

Addressing a press conference in Muzaffarabad, the AJK prime minister said that Pakistan and India must not violate the 1957 resolution on the Kashmir issue.

 

Reporter Aurangzeb Jarral