The PML-N grabbed nine out of the 13 constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Mirpur division in yesterday’s elections, preliminary results issued by the Election Commission showed on Tuesday.

Polls in AJK are being held in three phases over security concerns, with the first set of polls held in Mirpur division on Monday. Scuffles, violence and allegations of rigging had marred the polling process, with the PML-N and PPP accusing each other of electoral malpractice.

According to preliminary results issued by the AJK Election Commission (Forms-27), the PML-N emerged as the winner in nine constituencies, while the PPP could secure only four seats.

Form-27 lists cumulative results based on votes cast on the polling day (July 27) — results of which are detailed in Form-26 — and by the election staff in advance polling.

Results breakdown

Following an intense election campaign by both parties in the lead-up to the polls, the PML-N emerged victorious in Mirpur district’s Dadyal and Khari Sharif; Bhimber district’s Barnala, Samahni and Bhimber; and Kotli district’s Nakyal, Sehnsa, Charhoi and Khuiratta, according to unofficial results.

Meanwhile, the PPP secured the key city of Mirpur, as well as the district’s Chakswari, along with two seats in Kotli.

In LA-1 (Mirpur-I), PML-N’s Azhar Sadiq was successful with 15,427 votes, while his opponent Muhammad Afzal Shahid trailed with 9,832 votes, Form-27 results issued by the Election Commission showed.

PPP won the LA-2 (Mirpur-II) seat, with its candidate Qasim Majeed securing 13,378 votes, according to Form-27.

The PPP and PML-N had a close contest in LA-3 (Mirpur-III), with the former’s Yasir Sultan emerging as the winner with 12,590 votes while his opponent grabbed 11,081 votes.

In LA-4 (Mirpur-IV), PML-N’s Chaudhry Rukhsar Ahmed won with 22,376 votes, while PPP’s Sohaib Arshad was the runner-up with 15,851 votes, Form-27 showed.

Barnala’s LA-5 (Bhimber-I) seat also saw a close contest between PML-N’s Waqar Ahmed Noor and PPP’s Chaudhry Parvaiz Ashraf. Noor won with 30,259 ballots cast in his favour, and Ashraf trailed with 29,574 votes.

PML-N’s Chaudhry Razzaq won in Samahni’s LA-6 (Bhimber-II) with 32,332 votes, while Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party’s (IPP) Ali Shan got 26, 718 ballots in his favour.

In LA-7 (Bhimber-III), PML-N’s Tariq Farooq won with a comfortable margin, securing 38,340 votes, while former AJK PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq was the runner-up with 25,900 votes, Form-27 showed.

PPP’s Zafar Iqbal was the winner in LA-8 (Kotli-I) with 19,535 votes, while the party’s AJK chapter president Chaudhry Yasin won the LA-10 (Kotli-III) seat with 12,358 ballots in his favour, Forms-27 said.

On the other hand, PML-N’s Umair Naeem secured Nakyal’s LA-9 (Kotli-II) constituency, where the polling process had turned violent on Monday.

Naeem had a close contest with PPP’s Javed Budhanvi, with the PML-N leader winning over 30,000 votes and Budhanvi grabbing 28,309 votes.

PML-N’s Raja Asif grabbed the LA-11 (Kotli-IV) seat in Sehnsa, and its leader Raja Riasat Khan won LA-12 (Kotli-V), based on unofficial results.

PML-N candidate Raja Ayyaz Ahmad secured victory in LA-13 (Kotli-VI), having secured 12,008 votes.

The second and third phases of the elections are scheduled for August 2 and August 10 in nine constituencies of Muzaffarabad division and all 12 refugee constituencies, and 11 constituencies of Poonch division, respectively.

In his remarks on Monday night, the chief election commissioner termed these polls “the most difficult” in the history of AJK, for reasons that “everyone is aware of”.

While one or two isolated incidents do occur during elections, political parties often misrepresent them by blowing those occurrences out of proportion, without investigating them, he said.

Polls held in ‘peaceful, free, credible manner’

In a press briefing on Tuesday, PML-N leader and PM’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said the AJK elections were held in a “peaceful, free and credible manner”, despite a handful of isolated incidents.

Referring to the violence in Nakyal’s LA-9, Sanaullah claimed the incident stemmed from a family dispute, with some members supporting the PML-N and others backing the PPP.

He said some suspects were arrested immediately, while others were taken into custody later by the police.

Sanaullah said a similar clash had occurred around 10 days earlier, in which a senior PML-N leader was killed and three others were injured.

Sanaullah said “no violence occurred anywhere” besides Monday’s exchange of fire in Kotli’s Nakyal. He added that only minor verbal arguments were reported at some polling stations and the administration dealt with such incidents in accordance with the electoral regulations.

The minister said a separate incident was reported in LA-6 (Bhimber-II), where a candidate allegedly entered a polling station, picked up ballot boxes and threw them onto the ground. He said police arrested the candidate, registered a first information report (FIR) and also detained a person accompanying him.

A day ago, supporters of IPP candidate Ali Shan Soni took away ballot boxes from a polling station in Bhimber’s Samahni tehsil, according to the Mirpur divisional commissioner.

Sanaullah congratulated all the winning candidates, noting that nine were from the PML-N and four from the PPP.

Speaking alongside him, Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam said holding elections in the current circumstances was itself a major achievement.

Since early June, AJK has witnessed protests by the now-proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which has been demanding the abolition of 12 seats in the AJK legislature for refugees from India-occupied Kashmir. The protests have also been marred by violence.

According to Muqam, voter turnout on the polling day was 40-60 per cent in some constituencies, which he termed an “encouraging sign of public participation”.

He said the most significant aspect of the election was that the PML-N had disproved claims that it could not succeed without the reserved refugee seats.