Call to delay polls in AJK ‘bid to rig election’, says PML-N

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Tuesday rejected the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) recommendation to delay elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) due to the pandemic and termed it an attempt to “rig” the polls.

The AJK Legislative Assembly’s term will end on July 29, but so far, the schedule for the new election has yet to be issued. A day earlier, NCOC had suggested postponing the AJK elections for two months, saying the process would lead to an increase in the number of coronavirus cases. The NCOC wrote a letter to the chief election commissioner of AJK, stating that due to the rise in the number of coronavirus cases in the country, the polls should be delayed.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi spoke to the media here about the party’s stance over NCOC’s suggestion, according to Geo News. “What has NCOC got to do with elections?” Abbasi asked, terming it a “conspiracy for rigging”. “The same thing that happened in Gilgit-Baltistan is being repeated in Azad Kashmir,” he alleged.

“Were elections not held in other parts of the country?” he asked. He insisted that was an attempt to “steal” the elections in AJK and made references to previous elections in Pakistan.

“Let the elections be held according to the will of the people,” Abbasi said, adding that the PML-N wanted the elections in AJK to be on time. “We reject the NCOC letter. It should be withdrawn,” he said.

The letter said that large political gatherings due to elections would lead to the further spread of the potentially deadly virus in the state, adding that the number of coronavirus positive cases were already high there. The NCOC said one million residents of AJK could be vaccinated by September 2021.