Polls for AJK Legislative Assembly held in KP peacefully

PESHAWAR: The Kashmiris living in the provincial capital and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa exercised their right to franchise on Thursday for the 10th general elections of the Legislative Assembly in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Three polling stations had been set up in Peshawar to facilitate the voters. These included Shaheed Hasnain Shareef Higher Secondary School No 1, Shaheed Osama Zaffar Centennial Model Higher Secondary School No 2 and Shaheed Syed Hasnain Ali Shah Government Higher Secondary School No 3.

The polling started on time and continued without any break. The voting exercise was peaceful. Police were deployed at the polling stations to ensure a peaceful process of voting.In Mansehra, Abdul Majid Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was leading general elections on Legislative Assembly-41 unofficially, securing over 800 votes in the Mansehra district.

Abdul Bari, the joint contender of Jamaat-i-Islami and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, had secured 300 votes.  The polling started at 9am and continued until 5pm without any interval.A total of seven polling stations had been set up across the district for the Kashmiris voters. The polling remained peaceful.

The army soldiers and police were deployed in and around the polling stations.In Mardan, the polling was held for two constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections in Mardan district amid strict security arrangements.

The polling was held at the Government Girl’s Higher Secondary School, Shamsi Road, for two constituencies, LA-41 valley-6 and LA-35, Jammu-6.

Two polling booths were established, one for females and the other for males. About 139 voters, including 53 women, had been registered in the voter list. Strict security arrangements were made for the polling.

One side of the Shamsi Road was blocked for traffic for security reasons.In Kohat, two polling stations were set up in Kohat for LA-35 election. One polling station was set up at Government Primary School Tehsil Gate Kohat, near Tehsil Municipal Administration Lachi in Kohat.

The other polling station was step up at Government High School, hear Tehsil Municipal Administration.

A total of 118 voters had been registered at GPS Tehsil Gate Kohat. There were five woman voters. Only 22 votes were polled at this polling station.

NOWSHERA:  Sixty-six of the 88 registered voters polled their votes for the Legislative Assembly seat LA-41, Risalpur.

The polling was held at the government primary School No-II Risalpur, which started at 8am under the supervision of the Pakistan Army.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Polling for the AJK legislative assembly polls was held in D.I. Khan.

A total of 184, including 94 male and 90 female voters cast ballots in the elections. Strict security arrangements had been put in place and personnel of police and army soldiers were deployed for the election.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’sSajid Khan, JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazal’sFayyaz Khan and Abdul Bari of the Pakistan People’s party were contesting the elections.

MINOGRA: Like other parts of the country, polling for the AJK elections was also held in Swat district.

JI candidate Noorul Bari was leading the polls by bagging 120 votes followed by Abdul Majid of the PTI who took 105 votes. Abdul Reham of the PPP bagged third position by securing 40 votes while Muhammad Fayyaz of the JUI-F got only five votes and stood last.

LAKKI MARWAT: Election was also held peacefully here.

HANGU: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Raja Muhammad Siddique, one of the contenders of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly-35 election led the polls by taking 10 votes at the polling station-127 here. He was followed by independent candidate Muhammad Raziq who bagged six votes.

DIR: Muslim Conference candidate secured seven votes followed by PML-N with three and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf two votes. A polling station was set up at the Centennial Model School for the 60 AJK citizens residing in Dir. However, only 13 people cast their votes where one was rejected by the presiding officer.

LACHI: Only three voters used their right to franchise here out of the 22 registered voters. The PML-N candidate Raja Muhammad Siddique got two votes while Pakistan People’s Party candidate Fakhruzzaman secured only one.