Voters in Bagh and Haveli districts headed to polling stations on Monday as the third phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections got underway. Four constituencies across the Poonch Division are taking part in this round of the AJK elections, with roughly 460,000 registered voters eligible to cast ballots.
Polling opened at 8am and is scheduled to run until 5pm, per the AJK Election Commission’s official timeline. The territory’s chief election commissioner confirmed that adequate security measures had been put in place across all four constituencies to ensure the voting process runs smoothly.
Poonch and Sudhnoti Polls Delayed
Not every constituency is voting today. Elections covering five seats in Poonch district and two seats in Sudhnoti district have been pushed back. The chief election commissioner noted earlier that a decision on the Rawalakot polling date would follow shortly after ongoing sit-in protests are resolved.
How the Earlier Phases Played Out
This third round follows two earlier phases of the AJK elections. In phase one, held in the Mirpur division, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz took nine of the 13 contested seats, while the Pakistan Peoples Party picked up four.
The second phase covered nine seats in Muzaffarabad division along with 12 seats set aside for refugees. The PML-N extended its lead there too, winning 15 seats compared to six for the PPP.
Taken together, the PML-N now holds 24 seats after the first two phases of the AJK Legislative Assembly race, well ahead of the PPP’s 10. That gap has fueled confidence within the ruling party. On August 8, Rana Sanaullah, adviser to the prime minister on political affairs, said the PML-N was just six seats away from a two-thirds majority in the assembly.
The PPP, for its part, isn’t conceding ground. A day earlier, party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari pushed back on suggestions that the PML-N had the AJK government secured, arguing instead that the party’s hold on power in Islamabad was itself shaky. He went further, claiming that a countdown against the PML-N-led federal government was already underway, one he said had been triggered from within the party’s own ranks.
With the third phase of voting now in progress and additional constituencies still awaiting a polling date, the final composition of the AJK Legislative Assembly remains unsettled.