Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf is leading the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections as results continued to pour in, reported 24NewsHD TV channel Sunday.

According to unofficial results, the PTI has won 12 seats out of the total of 45 seats of the AJK legislature while Pakistan People's Party has won two seats and Muslim Conference and PML-N have won one seat each. 

AJK Chief Election Commissioner has said that action would be taken against those who were involved in violence and tried to disrupt the polling process. He said FIRs have been registered against responsible persons.

Earlier, the polling in the Azad Jammu Kashmir elections ended at the scheduled time at 5 p.m. The counting process started and would continue till the compilation of the final results. 

According to unofficial data 24NewsHD TV channel got on Sunday, the results are;

LA 1 Daddial City

PTI’s candidate Azhar Sadiq won the seat by obtaining 14233 votes. His opponent PML-N’s Ch Masood Khalid could take 7609 votes.

LA 3 Mirpur City

PTI’s Barrister Sultan Mahmood won the seat by obtaining 18462 votes. PML-N’s Chudgary Saeed could get 15343 votes

LA 4 Khari Sharif

PTI’s Ch Arshad has won the seat by a lead of 1873 votes after obtaining 22752 votes while PML-N’s Chaudhary Rukhsar could obtain 20879.

LA 14 Bagh

Former AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan of the Muslim Conference won the seat by obtaining 29561 votes. PTI’s Major Lateef Khaliq could get 13429 votes.

LA 17 Bagh Haveli

PPP’s Faisal Mumtaz Rathore won the seat by taking 24991 votes while PML-N’s Ch M Aziz could get 14135 votes.

LA 34 Jammu 1

PTI defeated PML-N on Lahore’s LA 34 Jammu 1 seat as PTI’s candidate Ch Riaz Ahmad won the election by taking 1283 votes while PML-N’s Nasir Hussain Dar could get 836 votes.

LA 35 Jammu

PTI’s Ch Maqbool Gujjar won the seat from Gujranwala by obtaining 18883 votes. His opponent PML-N’s Ch Ismael Gujjar could get 16885 votes.

LA 36 Jammu

PTI’s Hafiz Hamid Raza won the seat from Sialkot by taking 22096 votes. PML-N’s Chaudhary Ishaq could get 20467 votes.

LA 37 Jammu 4

PTI’s Muhammad Akmal Sargala won the seat from Norowal by obtaining 18748 votes while PML-N candidate Sadiq Bhattli obtained 18581 votes.

LA 38 Jammu 5

PTI’s candidate Chaudhary Akbar Ibrahim won the seat from Gujrat by obtaining 14264 votes. Zeeshan Younas of PML-N was runner up with 8754 followed by TLP’s Ch Zafar Iqbal with 2430 votes, JI’s Rana Umer Siddique with 1390 votes and Ashraf Chughtai with 125 votes.

LA 40 Valley 1

Pakistan People’s Party’s Amir Abdul Ghafar Lone won the seat in Karachi by taking 2165 votes. PTI’s Saleem Butt was runner up with 875 votes followed by PML-N’s Tahir Wani with 442 votes. LA 40 Valley 1 consists 20 districts of Sindh province and 4 districts of Balochistan.

LA 41 Valley 2

PTI’s Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan won the seat from Lahore by taking 3726 votes

LA 42 Valley 3

PTI won the Multan seat as Asim Sharif Butt was declared the winner after obtaining 1254 votes. PML-N’s Shaukat Ali Shah was second with 1205 votes followed by JI’s Saeed Ahmad Khan and PPP’s candidate was on fourth.

LA 43 Valley 4

PTI’s Javaid Butt, who also had the support of Sheikh Rashid, won the seat by taking 782 votes. He was closely followed by PML-N’s Nasima Wani who took 720 votes while Hamza Majeed Abbasi of PPP has taken 208 votes.

Nasima Wani has also applied for the recounting of the votes.

LA 44 Valley 5

In LA 44 Valley 5, PML-N’s Ahmad Raza Qadri won the seat by taking 2007 votes. He was followed by Mehrun Nisa of Muslim Conference with 1163 votes, Bashir Khan of PTI with 546 votes and Rashid Islam Butt of PPP with 482 votes.

LA 45 Valley 6

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Abdul Majid Khan won the seat by obtaining 3138 votes.

Violent polls 

A flurry of violent incidents and irregularities has marred the polling process in the general elections for Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in which two political workers were killed on Sunday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The polling started peacefully on Sunday morning but after only a few hours reports started coming of clashes between supporters of rival political parties and complaints were filed with the AJK Election Commission regarding violation of code of conduct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC7jwUnmvw4

Two PTI workers were killed and several injured during a clash between activists of the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Tehreik-i-Insaf near a polling station in LA-12 in Kotli.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whr9ZCdKw_k

The vehicle of PPP candidate Chaudhry Yaseen was also attacked. The vehicle was riddled with bullets but Ch Yaseen narrowly escaped the attack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na4L_Od1alg

There were also reports of clashes between PML-N and PTI workers in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

The AJK police arrested PPP Chief Polling Agent Zarrar Khan in AJK constituency LA-30.

PPP submitted a complaint in the Election Commission and said PTI workers also opened fire on the house of Zarrar Khan three days ago.

The PPP has demanded the immediate release of its Chief Polling Agent.

https://twitter.com/MediaCellPPP/status/1419176663531892738

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in a statement issued said, “There has been continuous firing by PTI workers on polling station Nos. 91, 92, 93, 94, 95 and 1010. Firing has been opened on the car of the candidate and the vehicle has received bullets.”

https://twitter.com/MediaCellPPP/status/1419169851944357889

Moreover in Kotli, PPP Kashmir central leader and candidate Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin's car was attacked by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers. The PPP demanded immediate action over the attack.

In Gujranwala, a police team uprooted the PML-N election camp outside a polling station that was set up outside the Government Girls High School No 2.

The police said that Nawaz League workers have now been asked to set up their election camp at a distance of 300 meters from the school.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B769-1F8-XM

In Peshawar, polling has resumed after it was halted at a polling station in constituency LA-45. The polling was halted after some people entered a polling station.

“No irrelevant person is allowed to enter in the polling stations,” Peshawar police said and added that six people have been arrested in this regard.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister on Information Kamran Bangash speaking to the media that an unfortunate incident took place at a polling station in LA-45 Peshawar but the matter was resolved amicably. He urged voters to cast their votes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvbbKaJjAeg

There was also an exchange of harsh words between the Gujranwala deputy commissioner and polling agents.

Police also uprooted a PPP camp in Rawalpindi.

There were also reports that unidentified people set on fire several vehicles which were part of PTI candidate Raja Haroon’s convoy in Bagh.

At least 11 polling workers were injured when their vehicle met an accident in Rawlakot.

Workers exposing vote thieves: Maryam

PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz has declared that her party workers were standing firmly and exposing the "vote thieves".

In a tweet, Maryam said, "PML-N workers are standing firm and exposing vote thieves."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbYUGM9glio

She maintained that Nawaz Sharif's slogan of "vote ko izzat do" (respect the vote) has given her party "active activists".

https://twitter.com/MaryamNSharif/status/1419207299017674754

The officer-principal clash takes power off polling

Voting at Peshawar Government Shaheed Syed Hasnain Ali Shah Higher Secondary School polling station came to a halt after a scuffle broke out between the presiding officer and the school principal over the power outage.

The polling in constituency LA-39 (Jammu-6) was suspended due to a clash between the presiding officer (PO) and the school principal.

A view of the scuffle.

The presiding officer had complained about the power outage since morning, however, the school principal got into a scuffle with the presiding officer over the complaint.

Peshawar Police said that the matter had been settled between the presiding officer and the school principal and now the polling has resumed.

‘Sloganeering clash’ in Multan

PML-N and PTI activists came face to face outside a polling station in Multan where polling for LA-42 Valley-III was underway.

Both raised loud slogans against each other.

The situation took a serious turn when PTI MPA Nadeem Qureshi along with his supporters passed by a PML-N camp. On seeing the PTI MPA, PML-N activists raised noisy slogans which were reciprocated in the same spirit.

Revote in two LA-29 polling stations demanded
Head of PPP’s central election cell Taj Haider has demanded the secretary election commission to hold repolling in polling stations 29 and 30 of LA-29.

In a letter, Taj Haider said that repolling should be conducted as the voting was stopped due to a scuffle between the activists. He also claimed that in polling station 98 of LA-16 PPP voters were beaten.

Raja Farooq’s claim

AJK Prime Minister and PML-N candidate Raja Farooq Haider have claimed that the law enforcing agencies were "collaborating" with the PTI candidates. "I was told just now that in MZD-7 Dara Batangi and Banayia law enforcing agencies are collaborating with PTI candidate," tweeted the AJK PM.

Rana Sanaullah on Form-45

Senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah in a presser said that his party’s polling agents will not let the presiding officers leave the polling stations without the Form-45.

Sanaullah said that votes will be counted in front of the polling agents and asked the deputy commissioner Gujranwala to cancel his plans to visit the polling stations. 

Shibli Faraz in victory mood

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Shibli Faraz claimed that PTI will emerge victorious in the AJK elections. In a tweet, Faraz said that the "tried and tested" PML-N and PPP have failed and PTI will "carry the day".

Polling starts peacefully

On Sunday morning, the polling for the much-talked-about elections of Azad Jammu and Kashmir started peacefully as the people wasted no time in heading towards the polling stations to set the voting process into motion.

The stage was set for a hard fight among Pakistan People’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf which led to thunderous campaigns in the run-up to the general elections.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QXw5Lm0jTQ

The elections for the Legislative Assembly were held in 33 constituencies of Azad Kashmir and 12 constituencies of the refugees of Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan. 

There were a total of 32,50,117 registered voters including 178,800 male and 146,8317 female in all 33 electoral constituencies in all ten districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Moreover, all 12 constituencies meant for Pakistan-based Jammu & Kashmir refugees, exercised their right of vote to elect the Legislative Assembly, for the next five-year constitutional term.

Over 2.8 million voters have been registered in 33 Azad Jammu Kashmir constituencies and 0.4 million in 12 Jammu Kashmir refugees based in various parts of Pakistan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXrBCLoUTXw

The registered voters shall have to produce an original computerized national identity card at the polling station at the time of exercising the right to vote.

AJK Election Commission has finalized all arrangements to hold free, fair, and transparent elections. All-out security arrangements have also been made so that voters could cast their votes in a peaceful manner without any fear and pressure.

The Kashmiris living in any city of Pakistan will exercise their vote to choose their candidates on 12 constituencies meant of Jammu and Kashmir refugees settled in various parts of Pakistan.

TV grab shows PTI candidate's car was set on fire in Bagh.

A total of 587 candidates are contesting the elections in 33 constituencies of Azad Kashmir districts and 121 candidates on 12 constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir refugees settled in Pakistan.

Over 40,000 security personnel including from Pakistan Army, FC, Rangers, and police will perform duties to ensure peaceful polling.

As many as 5,118 polling stations have been set up in all three divisions, Muzaffarabad, Poonch, and Mirpur. Out of the total 830 polling stations are very sensitive while 1,269 are sensitive.

Unique polling station

An interesting situation developed in the Pakistani city of Larkana where a polling station was set up in connection with the Azad Kashmir elections.

The number of registered Kashmiri voters was only ONE in Larkana where voting for LA-34 Jammu-1 was to be held.

Interestingly, four-member polling staff and 12 security men were deployed at the Larkana polling station where only one vote was to be cast.

List of candidates released

The AJK Election Commission has released a final list of 724 candidates who will contest for 45 seats.

Farooq Haider, Sardar Yaqoob and Chaudhry Yaseen are contesting elections from two constituencies each.

Former prime ministers Raja Farooq Haider, Sardar Yaqoob Khan, Sardar Attiq Ahmad Khan, and Barrister Sultan Mahmood are also in the race for the Legislative Assembly.

Allegations of rigging

A day before the polls, the leaders of the Opposition parties have accused the federal government of trying to rig the vote.

The leaders of PML-N and PPP had been leveling rigging allegations against the ruling PTI in their public rallies.

PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz in her massive election campaign in Azad Jammu and Kashmir had also expressed the fears that the vote could be rigged.

There were numerous violations of the election code of conduct on the party of government ministers in the recent past.

Sherry Rehman

Senior PPP leader Sherry Rehman has condemned the torturing of party candidate Shaukat Javed Mir by PTI workers and demanded of the AJK Election Commission to take notice of the incident.

In a statement, Sherry Rehman said the PPP candidate was subjected to violence by the PTI workers in the Hattian Bala area. The federal government must stop its efforts to frighten anti-government candidates and workers.

She said an atmosphere of fear and harassment is being created before the polling for AJK elections which is of great concern.

Sherry said the federal government had already made the AJK elections controversial as Prime Minister Imran Khan had already announced interest-free loans for every family.

“The prime minister’s announcement was an attempt to buy votes with loans,” she remarked.

Sherry appealed to the elections observers to keep an eye on the rigging plans of the federal government.

Reporters Team