Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hina Pervez Butt and a former member of parliament accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of cheating the Bagh (Azad Jammu and Kashmir) by-election.
PML-N politician claimed on Twitter that Kashmir was where the PPP’s “Thhappa culture” magic could be seen in action.
On Thursday, the PPP defeated the PML-N in the by-election by a margin of 5,270 votes.
Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas of the PML-N received 20,485 votes, while Sardar Zia Qamar of the PPP received 25,755 votes.
Raja Zameer, a PTI contender, received only 4,942 votes. Therefore, the PML-N and PPP, the two coalition partners, were in actual competition.
Following the disqualification of the former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas by the AJK high court on April 11, the by-election in LA-15, Bagh-II, with 101,146 registered voters, 48,038 of them were women, had become necessary.
It’s significant to note that Mr. Ilyas, a PTI nominee, defeated Mr. Qamar in the general elections of 2021. Observers claimed that the absence of the former premier, who recently left the PTI, as his nominee helped the PPP candidate, a member of his Mughal clan.
In the constituency, there were 189 polling places, of which 30 and 20 were designated as sensitive and the most sensitive, respectively.
350 paramilitary troops and up to 2500 police officers were stationed in the constituency to uphold law and order.
It is interesting to note that the PTI candidate received fewer than 5000 votes in the by-election compared to his rivals from the PPP and PML-N.
The election’s outcome demonstrated that the PTI has diminished in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, possibly as a result of the May 9 riots and attacks on military targets. PTI leaders have been detained as a result of the May 9 riots, however, the majority of the party’s leaders have quit the party while denouncing the unrest.
