Muzaffarabad (Web Desk): Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Sardar Ziaul Qamar defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas on Thursday in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) LA-15 by-election.
According to unofficial results issued by the returning officer, PPP’s Sardar Zia Qamar bagged 25,755 votes while PML-N’s Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas received 20,485 votes.
Meanwhile, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate, Muhammad Zamir Khan, was the second runner-up who received 4,942 votes, unofficial results showed.
As per the data shared by the election commission, 52,671 votes were polled in the by-election in LA-15, Bagh-II constituency, which has 101,146 registered voters, including 48,038 women.
The election commission had set up 189 polling stations in the constituency, of which 30 were declared sensitive and 20 most sensitive.
Around 2,500 police personnel and 350 paramilitary troops were deployed in the constituency to maintain law and order.
PPP chairman Bilawal Butto Zardari congratulated Sardar Ziaul Qamar.
In a post on Twitter, Bilawal wrote, "Thank you Bagh, AJK for placing your faith in the PPP. After Multan and Karachi, the Bagh by-election has cemented our winning streak. Congratulations to Sardar Zia Qamar, former PYO president and current chief organiser AJK PPP on his victory.
“Bagh hosted our protest against G20 meeting in occupied Kashmir last month. Today’s victory sends a strong message on both sides of the border,” the PPP chief said.
It is pertinent to mention that the seat fell vacant after the AJK High Court in April this year disqualified former AJK premier Sardar Tanvir Ilyas, who had won the 2018 election.