Polling has ended and vote counting has begun at 23 polling stations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s LA-15 and LA-16 constituencies. The latest AJK polls followed repolling at stations where voting was previously postponed.
Repolling began at 8am and continued until 5pm at nine polling stations in LA-15 and 14 stations in LA-16, both located in Bagh district. Officials said the voting process remained peaceful under tight security arrangements.
A total of 5,000 voters were registered in LA-15, while LA-16 had 7,004 registered voters. Before counting began, PPP candidate Sardar Zia Qamar was leading PML-N’s Mushtaq Minhas by 1,722 votes in LA-15.
In LA-16, PML-N candidate Mir Akbar Khan held a lead of 3,225 votes over Sardar Qamar Zaman. The AJK polls in both constituencies had been postponed on August 10 after polling staff could not reach the stations because of tensions.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission issued notifications confirming successful candidates in LA-14 and LA-17. Jammu and Kashmir Awami Dast-o-Bazu candidate Sajid Iqbal was declared successful from LA-14 Bagh West, while PPP’s Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was confirmed as the winner from LA-17 Haveli.
The third phase was initially scheduled across 11 constituencies of the Poonch Division. However, the Election Commission limited polling to Bagh and Haveli districts because of security concerns.
The LA-17 result remains contested by PML-N candidate Engineer Mohsin Aziz, who challenged the declaration of Rathore as the winner. The AJK Chief Election Commissioner reserved a decision after hearing arguments from both sides, while the outcome of the latest counting in LA-15 and LA-16 is awaited.
