Voting begins in AJK Assembly to elect new president
Polling to be held from 10am to 1pm: PML-N nominates Dr Najeeb Naqi and PPP fields Ch Latif Akbar as presidential candidate: Result to be announced after counting in evening: New president is due to take oath later today
Legislators started voting in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Thursday to elect the territory’s new president, with polling under way in the Assembly hall in Muzaffarabad, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported.
According to the report, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Chaudhry Latif Akbar are contesting the presidential election.
The AJK Legislative Assembly session is being chaired by Speaker Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, who will announce the result of the presidential election after the counting of votes.
Polling is being held from 10am to 1pm. The counting process will begin after polling closes, with the result expected to be announced on the same day.
The election schedule was issued by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission. Under the procedure, the president is elected by members of the Legislative Assembly through a majority of the total votes.
The oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected president is also scheduled to take place today. Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs Engineer Amir Muqam is expected to attend the ceremony.
The AJK Assembly session was convened by the Acting President under Article 27 of the Interim Constitution of 1974 and Rule 102 of the Election Rules 2020.
Dr Najeeb Naqi is the PML-N nominee, while Chaudhry Latif Akbar has been nominated by the PPP. Both candidates submitted their nomination papers on September 19, and their papers were declared valid after scrutiny.
The election is being held to fill the office of the AJK president, which has remained vacant since the death of Barrister Sultan Mahmood in January.
PPP's Chaudhry Latif Akbar initially served as acting president before Chaudhry Tariq Farooq assumed the role after becoming Assembly speaker.
The PML-N emerged as the largest parliamentary force in the newly elected assembly, securing 25 of the 38 directly elected seats and five of the seven reserved seats, while the PPP won 12 directly elected seats and two reserved seats. An independent member from the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party also joined the PML-N.
The election schedule for four seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Council has also been released; polling is set for October 12, and the Election Commission has issued a notification to this effect.