The first phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections was set into motion in the 13 constituencies of Mirpur Division, with voting began at 8:00 am Monday morning and authorities saying all arrangements were in place for free, fair and transparent polls. The AJK Assembly elections were being held in 45 constituencies, including 33 territorial seats and 12 reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan’s Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces. The AJK Election Commission has introduced a three-phase election schedule for the first time, citing administrative and security considerations.

Polling started at the scheduled time and will continue till 5:00 pm. Today (Monday) has been declared a public holiday in all three Mirpur Division districts Bhimber, Mirpur, and Kotli to facilitate the voting. A total of 288 candidates are contesting today’s election in 13 constituencies. According to the AJK Election Commission, polling will be held at 2,316 polling stations, of which 1,241 have been declared ‘highly sensitive’ and 724 ‘sensitive’.

The contest features the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party, Muslim Conference and other parties. In total, 22 political parties are participating. A total of 1,265 candidates are contesting 45 AJK constituencies. Of these, 1,047 candidates are competing for 33 territorial seats, while 218 have filed nominations for the 12 refugee constituencies.

Election monitoring has been organised through 13 zones and 205 sectors across the division, while 18,560 personnel from police and other law-enforcement agencies have been deployed under a three-tier security plan. Under the arrangement, police will provide the first layer of security, Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and the Federal Constabulary the second, and the Pakistan Army the third. Around 2,100 Army personnel have been deployed, while Quick Response Force teams remained on standby to respond to any emergency.

Polls in AJK are being held in three phases over security concerns. The second and third phases 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. The voting process was in progress in districts of Mirpur Bhimber and Kotli where over 1.4 million voters are exercising their right to vote.

In Mirpur District, over 400,000 voters are taking part in the elections, nearly 350,000 voters are there in District Bhimber District while Kotli District will see over 650,000 voters participate in polling. The voting process could not kick off at a polling station in Kotli as the candidate agents were missing. The polling staff was present at Polling Station No 1718 in Colonel Mahmood Government Boys Middle School in Gulpur but the agents were yet to arrive there.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)