PTI, PML-N, PPP eye victory as Azad Jammu and Kashmir goes to polls today

All preparations have been finalized to ensure a smooth polling process in Azad Jammu and Kashmir as the voters will elect members for the 45 general seats of the legislative assembly, ARY News reported.

According to the Election Commission, 5129 polling stations have been established for 3.2 million registered voters out of which 826 have been declared most sensitive and 1209 as sensitive deploying additional forces.

Polling will continue from 08:00am to 05:00pm while results at the polling stations will be announced after one hour of the conclusion of the polling.

According to data, 701 candidates are contesting for 45 general seats including 12 refugee seats in Pakistan. Tough contest has been expected between three main political parties Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim league Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan Peoples party (PPP) while on 7 seats regional parties Muslim Conference (MC) and Jammu Kashmir peoples party (JK-PP)’s candidates are in tough contest against candidates of major political parties, on 6 MC and on one JKPP.

A total of 32 political parties are contesting the elections and hundreds of independent candidates are also vying in all the 45 electoral constituencies including 33 in AJK districts and 12 meant of Jammu and Kashmir refugees settled in various parts of Pakistan.

The remaining 8 seats are reserved out of which five are for women, and one each for overseas Kashmiris, technocrats and religious scholars.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has emerged as the most popular party in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and is likely to win the upcoming election in the region schedule on July 25, according to a survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan.

The Gallup Pakistan survey put PTI ahead of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been placed at the third position.

According to a survey of Gallup Pakistan, 44 per cent in AJK think that PTI will win the election tomorrow (Sunday) while PML-N has 12 per cent and PPP 9 per cent popularity