Daily Times

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lead the race in Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly (AJKLA) elections, according to preliminary results announced by the Election Commission (EC) till filing of this report late on Sunday.

According to the unconfirmed and unofficial results, the PTI won 22 seats out of 32 constituencies whose results were announced by the commission, while its arch rival Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) grabbed four seats, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) clinched five seats while All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference secured one seat.

Chaudhry Azhar Sadiq, the PTI’s candidate from LA-1 Dadiyal, emerged victorious in election by securing 14,233 votes. Chaudhry Masood Khalid of PML-N came second by bagging 7,609 votes.

Former prime minister AJK and President All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan won the elections on LA-14 Bagh (West) with 29,561 votes. PTI candidate Major Latif Khaliq came second with 13,429 votes.

PTI candidate Riaz Ahmed emerged victorious in the LA-34 Jammu-1 after bagging 4,320 votes. PML-N’s Nasir Dar secured 3,545 votes and got the second spot.

PTI candidate Hafiz Hamid Raza emerged victorious with 22,096 votes during the LA-36 Jammu-3 elections. His rival PML’s Mohammad Ishaq got 20,467 votes and secured the second spot. PPP’s Chaudhry Shaukat Ali managed only 2,609 votes and took the third position.

Ruling PTI won LA-43 Valley-4 as its candidate Javed Butt managed to secure 782 votes. According to unofficial results, PML-N’s Nasima Khatoon bagged second position with 720 votes.

In LA-34 Jammu constituency, PTI candidate Chaudhry Riaz Hussain continued the winning streak of the ruling party by securing 206 votes. His rival PML-N candidate Nasir Hussain Dar could only manage 145 votes and got the second position.

Mohammad Asim Sharif, PTI candidate from LA-42, bagged 1,254 votes and won the seat. As per unofficial results, PML-N’s Shaukat Shah stood second with 1,205 votes.

PTI’s Ghulam Mohiuddin Dewan emerged victorious after bagging 2,326 votes from LA-40 Valley-2. According to unofficial results, PML-N candidate Ikram Butt could only secure 741 votes at second position.

Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) candidate Amir Abdul Ghaffar Lone won from LA-40 Valley-1, securing 2,165 votes. According to unofficial results, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Saleem Butt could only manage the second position after getting 875 votes. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate got third position with 442 votes. The constituency included 20 Sindh and four Balochistan districts.

In LA-43 Valley-4, PTI candidate Javed Ahmad Butt won the seat by securing 774 votes and defeating his close contender PML-N candidate Naseema Wani who secured 720.

In LA- 41 Valley-2, PTI candidate Dewan Ghulam Mohiuddin clinched victory by securing 2,326 votes against his rival Akram Butt of PML-N managed to get just 741 votes.

In LA-45 Kashmir Valley-6, PTI candidate Abdul Majid Khan retained his seat by securing 1,545 votes against his rival independent candidate Abdul Nasir Khan who secured 718 votes.

In LA- 38 Jammu-6, PTI candidate Akbar Ibrahim Chaudhary won by securing 12.219 votes while PML-N candidate Chaudhary Zeeshan took second position by securing 7,325 votes.

In LA-40 Valley-I, PPP’s Amir Abdul Ghafar lone clinched victory by getting 2,348 votes while his closet rival PTI’s candidate Muhammad Saleem But could only secure 796 votes.

In LA- 44 Valley- 5, PML-N candidate Ahmad Raza Qadri won the election by securing 2007 votes against his rival candidate Mehr Un Nisa of the Muslim Conference (MC) who secured 1,163 votes.

The polling, which started at 8 am and continued till 5 pm without any break, was held to elect 45 legislators of AJK Assembly, 33 from AJK and 12 from all four provinces of Pakistan called ‘refugee seats’, in overall a charged environment. Two people were killed and several others injured in four different incidents of clashes between workers of political parties in Kotli, Haveeli, Bagh and Hattian Balla districts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) during polling on Sunday, police said.

Azad Jammu Kashmir Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (r) Abdul Rasheed Salaria expressed full satisfaction over holding of general elections in a free, fair and peaceful manner. Talking to media persons during his visit to various polling stations in Kotli, Bhimbher and Mirpur districts, he said that although there were reports about occurrence of some unpleasant incidents of clashes among the rival groups outside the polling stations, but the overall polling process remained peaceful under the due foolproof security arrangements.