Voters returned to the polls in two constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Bagh district on Saturday, after incomplete voting during the previous phase prevented the Election Commission from declaring final results.
Voting opened at 8am at 23 polling stations in LA-15 (Bagh Central) and LA-16 (Eastern Bagh) and will continue until 5pm.
In LA-15, voting is being conducted again at nine polling stations. Results from the rest of the constituency had placed PPP’s Sardar Ziaul Qamar in the lead with 16,637 votes, followed by PML-N candidate Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas with 15,015. Jamaat-i-Islami candidate retired Brig Dr Muhammad Khan had secured 12,259 votes.
The Election Commission withheld the constituency result because voters at the nine remaining stations had been unable to cast their ballots.
A similar situation arose in LA-16, where disruption prevented voting at 14 polling stations representing 7,238 registered voters. Before those stations were excluded, PML-N candidate Sardar Mir Akbar led with 19,515 votes, 3,225 ahead of PPP’s Sardar Qamaruz Zaman.
The contest has been accompanied by allegations of widespread electoral irregularities, with all five candidates across the two constituencies accusing their rivals of rigging.
AJK Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said additional security arrangements had been made for Saturday’s voting, with police and other law-enforcement personnel deployed to allow voters to participate without intimidation.
The repolling forms part of the third phase of the AJK elections, which has been repeatedly adjusted because of unrest and security concerns. Although voting had initially been planned across all 11 constituencies of Poonch Division, the Election Commission ultimately restricted this phase to Bagh and Haveli districts.
One Bagh contest has already been decided. In LA-14 (Bagh-I/Dhirkot), Jammu Kashmir Awami Dast-o-Bazu Party candidate Sajid Iqbal Abbasi won with 40,522 votes.
Meanwhile, the result in LA-17 (Haveli) remains contested. PML-N candidate Engr Mohsin Aziz challenged the declaration of AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore as the winner.
After hearing arguments from both sides on Thursday, the AJK chief election commissioner reserved his decision on the challenge.