The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission has announced the schedule for elections to fill eight reserved seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly. Nomination papers for these seats will be submitted on August 20, with the final list of candidates to be published on August 23. Voting for these reserved seats is scheduled to take place within the Assembly on August 24.
Among the reserved seats, five are designated for women and three for technocrats. The voting process for these seats will be conducted internally in the Assembly. This announcement comes in the wake of the recently concluded AJK general elections, which were held in three separate phases.
In the general election results, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) emerged as the largest party, securing 25 seats, while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won 11 seats. The PPP raised allegations of rigging throughout the polling process.
The first phase, conducted across 13 constituencies in the Mirpur Division, resulted in the PML-N winning nine seats and the PPP four. The second phase, held on August 2 in eight constituencies of Muzaffarabad Division along with all 12 refugee constituencies, saw the PML-N claim 15 seats compared to the PPP’s six. Following the results from two constituencies in the third phase, the PML-N’s total reached 25 seats, with the PPP holding 11.
In response to the alleged rigging, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari stated that the federal government’s “countdown has begun,” addressing members of the PML-N in a video message after the second phase of elections. He warned, “To my friends in the PML-N, can you hear that sound? The countdown for the federal government has begun.”
Meanwhile, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif commented that political rivalry is a normal aspect of politics but cautioned against letting differences escalate into enmity. He expressed concern over the current political climate in Azad Kashmir, noting, “This is the first time that this environment has been created in Azad Kashmir, which is a cause of concern for all of us. This has happened because the previous governments did not fulfil their duty.”
