The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has taken an early lead in the first phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s legislative assembly polls, with unofficial and provisional counts putting the Pakistan Peoples Party in second place.
Voting was held on Monday across 13 constituencies spanning Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber districts. Polling, originally scheduled to close at 5pm, was extended by an extra hour to accommodate voters still in line, after which the release of unofficial results began.
AJK Elections First Phase: Ten Constituencies Declared
Out of the 13 seats up for grabs in the Mirpur division, unofficial and provisional outcomes have been confirmed for ten so far. Of these, PML-N has secured seven while PPP has claimed three, according to the latest AJK elections first phase tally.
PML-N’s winning candidates come from LA-1 Mirpur-1, LA-4 Mirpur-4, LA-7 Bhimber-3, LA-9 Kotli-2, LA-11 Kotli-4, LA-12 Kotli-5 and LA-13 Kotli-6. PPP, meanwhile, prevailed in LA-2 Mirpur-2, LA-3 Mirpur-3 and LA-8 Kotli-1.
Constituency-Wise Breakdown
In LA-1 Mirpur-1, all 139 polling stations reported in, giving PML-N’s Azhar Sadiq the win with 15,427 votes. PPP’s Muhammad Afsar Shahid trailed with 9,832 votes.
LA-2 Mirpur-2 saw a PPP victory once all 149 stations reported, with Qasim Majeed collecting 12,904 votes against PML-N’s Azeem Bakhsh Chaudhry, who received 8,182.
In LA-3 Mirpur-3, all 161 stations finalized their count, handing PPP’s Chaudhry Yasir Sultan the seat with 11,676 votes, ahead of PML-N’s Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed at 9,832.
LA-4 Mirpur-4’s full results from 162 stations showed PML-N’s Chaudhry Rukhsar Ahmed winning with 20,172 votes, while PPP’s Chaudhry Suhaib Arshad secured 13,865.
Across all 237 stations in LA-7 Bhimber-3, PML-N’s Chaudhry Tariq Farooq won with 35,490 votes, with independent candidate Chaudhry Anwarul Haq runner-up on 25,100.
LA-8 Kotli-1’s complete tally from 155 stations gave PPP’s Zafar Iqbal Malik the seat with 19,535 votes, ahead of PML-N’s Malik Muhammad Nawaz Khan at 11,966.
In LA-9 Kotli-2, all 178 stations reported PML-N’s Umair Naeem winning with 31,080 votes against PPP’s Javed Iqbal Budhanvi’s 28,509.
LA-11 Kotli-4 results from 206 stations showed PML-N’s Muhammad Asif securing victory with 26,190 votes, with PPP’s Chaudhry Muhammad Ikhlaq at 21,751.
Across 207 stations in LA-12 Kotli-5, PML-N’s Muhammad Riasat Khan won with 35,168 votes, ahead of PPP’s Chaudhry Muhammad Yaseen at 30,320.
In LA-13 Kotli-6, all 193 stations confirmed PML-N’s Raja Ayaz Ahmed Khan as the winner with 21,856 votes, while Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s Nisar Ansar Abdali came second with 15,859 votes.
Remaining Constituencies Still Being Counted
Vote counting continues in the remaining three seats. In LA-5 Bhimber-1, results from 115 of 176 stations put PML-N’s Waqar Ahmed Noor ahead with 21,573 votes, followed by PPP’s Chaudhry Pervez Ashraf with 18,406.
In LA-6 Bhimber-2, counting from 100 of 195 stations shows PML-N’s Chaudhry Muhammad Razzaq leading with 21,210 votes, with Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s Ali Shan Chaudhry at 11,354.
Meanwhile, in LA-10 Kotli-3, only 36 of 169 stations have reported so far, with PPP’s Chaudhry Muhammad Yaseen ahead at 6,999 votes against PML-N’s Fateh Mahmood-ul-Hassan’s 3,560.
As counting wraps up in the remaining constituencies, the AJK elections first phase results are expected to shape the broader contest as the process moves toward its next stages.