MUZAFFARABAD: The ruling PML-N and op­­position PPP on Thursday filed nomination papers for four vacant seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council.

The PML-N has fielded three candidates — Chau­dhry Mohammad Saeed, Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas and Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed — while the PPP has nominated former Legislative Assembly speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar for the fourth seat.

Mr Saeed and Mr Minhas had lost to PPP candidates in the recently held general elections from Mirpur and Bagh, respectively. Mr Manzoor, a senior PML-N leader from Muzaffarabad city, has never contested an election.

Scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held at 10am on Friday (today). Appeals against rejection may be filed on Oct 5 between 9am and 12:30pm and will be heard on Oct 6, with decisions to be announced between 1pm and 4pm.

Candidates may withdraw their papers by noon on Oct 7, while the final list of contesting candidates will be published by 2pm on Oct 9.

Polling is scheduled for Oct 12 at the Legislative Assembly Hall, from 10am to 1pm. However, with four candidates having filed papers for four seats, no polling will be required if all four candidates are found eligible after scrutiny and none withdraws. They will then be declared elected unopposed.

Four of the six elected seats became vacant in 2021 and elections were held in August that year.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026