Voting resumed on Saturday at 23 polling stations across two constituencies in Bagh district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), following a postponement on August 10. The delay occurred after polling staff failed to arrive and tensions escalated, disrupting the electoral process.
At that time, the AJK Election Commission Secretary, Raja Shakeel Ahmed Khan, noted that unrest prevented polling from taking place at the affected stations. The third phase of AJK elections on August 10 had proceeded in four constituencies within Bagh and Haveli districts, while voting in seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti was deferred due to security concerns.
On election day, unofficial tallies from 203 of 213 polling stations in LA-15 Bagh-2 indicated Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Zia Qamar leading with 16,696 votes. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas trailed with 15,099 votes. In the neighboring constituency LA-16 Bagh-3, PML-N’s Sardar Mir Akbar Khan was ahead of PPP’s Sardar Qamar Zaman Khan.
Currently, voting is underway at nine polling stations in LA-15 Bagh-2, where 5,032 registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots. Simultaneously, in LA-16 Bagh-3, polling continues at 14 stations with 7,238 voters. The electoral process, which started at 8 a.m., is scheduled to conclude at 5 p.m.
Reflecting on earlier phases, in the first phase of the AJK elections, PML-N secured nine out of 13 seats in the Mirpur division, while PPP won four. The second phase covered nine seats in the Muzaffarabad division and 12 seats reserved for refugees, with PML-N winning 15 seats and PPP six.
Thus far, PML-N has established dominance by winning 24 seats, compared to PPP’s 10 seats during the initial two phases. However, the elections have been marred by accusations of rigging and violence from the PPP. In a video statement on August 3, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the polls as “neither free nor fair,” describing them as “bullet elections,” “murderous elections,” and “bloody elections.”
In response, the PML-N dismissed these allegations, with Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah challenging the PPP to provide any evidence before the election commission.
