AJK votes today for seven reserved assembly seats

Polling is being held today for seven reserved seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly,

Polling is being held today for seven reserved seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, completing another key stage of the region’s electoral process.

Voting started at 10am and will continue until 1pm at the Assembly Hall in Muzaffarabad. The seats include five reserved for women and one each for Ulema and Mashaikh, technocrats and professionals, and State subjects living abroad.

PML-N candidate Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Arain has already been declared elected unopposed on the seat reserved for State subjects residing overseas after no other candidate filed nomination papers.

Six candidates are competing for the five women’s seats. The PML-N has fielded Riffat Abid, Sehrish Qamar, Maryam Idrees and Maryam Zaman, also known as Maryam Kashmiri. The PPP candidates are Farzana Yaqoob and Zobia Khurshid Raja.

The Ulema and Mashaikh seat is being contested by PPP’s Hafiz Tariq Mahmood and PML-N’s Mohammad Mazhar Saeed. For the technocrats and professionals seat, PML-N’s Barrister Syed Iftikhar Gillani is facing PPP’s Sahibzada Zulfiqar Ali.

The AJK Legislative Assembly has 53 members under the region’s constitutional framework. Forty-five members are elected directly, while the remaining seats are reserved and filled through votes cast by directly elected lawmakers.

Seven general seats could not be contested during the scheduled polling because of security and law-and-order concerns in parts of Poonch and Sudhnoti districts. Consequently, 38 elected members are taking part in the reserved-seat elections.

The general election was conducted in phases after security concerns disrupted the original schedule. Polling was held on July 27, August 2 and August 10, while voting in several constituencies was postponed.

The PML-N currently holds 25 of the 38 directly elected seats, while the PPP has 12. An elected member of the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party has also joined the PML-N camp.

The reserved-seat elections are particularly significant because their results will help determine the final composition of the incoming Assembly and pave the way for the formation of the new AJK government.

The newly elected Assembly is scheduled to convene at 2pm today. Newly elected members are expected to take oath during the inaugural sitting under outgoing Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who himself lost his constituency in the general election.

Meanwhile, political tensions remain between the PML-N and PPP following the elections. The PPP has raised allegations of irregularities and questioned the transparency of the electoral process.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that meaningful cooperation with the PML-N would remain difficult unless the party’s concerns regarding the AJK elections were addressed.

The PPP has also criticised the government over its handling of important legislation at the federal level, adding another layer of tension between the two political allies.