Polling for 21 seats in AJK’s second election phase tomorrow

WEB DESK: Campaigning for the second phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections ended Friday night, with polling on 21 seats scheduled for August 2.

The Election Commission has completed all arrangements and begun dispatching election material and staff to polling stations. Voting will take place from 8am to 5pm on nine seats in Muzaffarabad division and 12 seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees in Pakistan.

A total of 208 candidates are contesting the nine Muzaffarabad division seats, where 890,621 registered voters are eligible to cast their ballots. The division comprises Muzaffarabad, Neelum and Jhelum Valley districts. According to the Election Commission, 1,483 polling stations and 2,219 polling booths have been set up across the division.

A close contest is expected among the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Jamaat-e-Islami and independent candidates.

For the 12 refugee seats, 143 candidates are in the running, with 438,777 registered voters eligible to cast ballots. A total of 1,057 polling stations have been established across all four provinces for this purpose.

Kashmiri refugees residing in Pakistan will vote for six seats each from Jammu and Valley constituencies. The Jammu seats span LA-34 (Jammu-1) to LA-39 (Jammu-6), while the Valley seats span LA-40 (Valley-1) to LA-45 (Valley-6).

Constituencies LA-28, LA-29 and LA-31 in Muzaffarabad have been designated highly sensitive. More than 4,000 security personnel will be deployed for polling, with a Quick Response Force from the armed forces also on standby to ensure voter safety.