“RIGGING”, Scream PTI and PPP before Azad Kashmir election results announced

Four major parties including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan Peoples party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and all Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (MC) are in the run for 41 seats of AJK Assembly. But the situation changed in 2010 when Nawaz Sharif launched the PML-N in the region.

According to unofficial results, Sardar Ateeq of the Muslim Conference won from the LA 13 with a lead of 19,086 votes; PPP’s Chaudhry Abdul Majeed clinched the LA-2 constituency; and Sardar Yaqoob, who led the PML-N in the elections, also won from his constituency.

Bilawal, the PPP chairman, has warned his party will launch street protests if the PML-N tries to rig the polls.

LA 38: Syed Shaukat Shah from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) wins election with a lead of 1218 votes. Likewise, Chaudhry Masood Khalid Advocate of the PML-N also won the election from Mirpur (Dadayal) constituency LA-I.

PPP spokesman of AJK said PML-N had theft the AJK elections in a scientific way.

He said that every PML-N candidate was given Rs50 million each to buy votes.

Sardar Farooq succeeded from LA-9 Kotli-2 with more than 28,000 votes, while Javed Iqbal of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stood second with over 24,000 votes. However, voters present inside the polling stations were allowed to cast their votes even after that time.

In all, 423 candidates contested for 41 seats, of which 29 seats were meant for all 10 districts of the AJK and 12 for Pakistan-based refugees from Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Ansar Butt, a resident of Dhaki area in Gujrat city, told Dawn that the name of his four sisters and eight nephews and nieces had been missing from the list despite the fact that they had earlier exercised their voting rights in the last AJK polls of 2011. Unofficial results started pouring in from around the region, while counting was underway until the filing of this report.

A total of 2,674,586 people including 1,483,747 men and 1,190,839 women will be moving towards 8,048 polling booths set up in 5,429 polling stations from their respective constituencies in AJK and Pakistan.

Overall, the election was held in a peaceful manner under the supervision of the army.

Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh for Information and Archives Maula Bux Chandio said that it was evident that state machinery was used in the elections.