By-election in AJK: PTI, PPP retain seats in Mirpur, Kotli

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) retained their seats in the by-elections held for two constituencies of Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Sunday. The by-elections were held in the constituencies of Mirpur and Kotli, AJK, where the PTI won in Mirpur LA-3, Mirpur-III, while PPP candidate won in LA-12 Kotli-V.

The polling process continued uninterrupted from 8am to 5pm. Strict security arrangements were made during the polling and the army was also ordered to be ready to deal with any untoward incident.

The LA-3, Mirpur-III seat had fallen vacant due to Barrister Sultan Mahamood Choudhry’s election as AJK president who had won this seat as a PTI nominee in the July 25 general elections.

The Mirpur constituency contains a total of 85,925 registered voters including 45,447 male and 40,478 female voters — of whom a thin number reportedly reached the polling stations to exercise their right of franchise to elect their representative to the Legislative Assembly for the next 5 years.

A total of 147 polling stations including 68 for males, 65 for females and 14 combined were established in Mirpur to facilitate voters.

According to unconfirmed and unofficial results, PTI candidate Yasir Sultan Chaudhry won the election securing 20,142 votes while PMLN candidate Chaudhry Saeed got 11,608 votes.

The LA-12 (Charhoi), Kotli-V seat had fallen vacant due to the resignation of Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin from one out of two seats he had won in the July 25 general elections — simultaneously from Kotli city and Charhoi constituencies.

A total of 106,428 voters, including 57,838 male and 48,590 female were registered to exercise their right to elect their representative for the AJK LA.

Unofficial results say PPP’s Aamir Yaseen defeated PTI’s Shaukat Farid Advocate by securing over 23,000 votes while PTI could manage around 19,000 votes.