Polling for second phase of AJK LG polls underway

Voting for the second phase of local government elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is underway, ARY News reported on Saturday.

The polling is being held in four districts of Poonch division – Bagh, Rawlakot, Haveli, Sudhanoti. The voting that started at 8:00 am will continue till 5pm.

More than one million people in this region will use their voting rights while 487 wards have been set up for polling.

According to the AJK election commission, 1,859 polling stations and 2,697 polling booths have been set up for 875 seats of local councils, including union councils, district councils, town committees, municipal committees, and municipal corporations.

The first phase of the LG elections was held on November 27 in three districts of Muzaffarabad division while the third phase will be held in three districts of the southern Mirpur division on December 8.

In first phase, the PTI took the lead over its opponents, the PML-N and PPP.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took lead with 197 seats, closely followed by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) bagging 194 seats. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz have 127 seats and the independent candidates have won 121 seats of local councils in the region.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) remained second by winning 23 District Council seats and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) grabbed 16 seats in the local government elections held in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after a gap of three decades.

Muslim Conference declared winner on 22 seats and JKPP, Tehreek-e-Labbaik and Jamaat Islami have won single seat each.