Counting underway after polling ends in 2 constituencies of AJK's Bagh district

Muzaffarabad (Web Desk): Counting of ballots began on Saturday after polling ended at all 23 polling stations in two constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Bagh district.

Polling started at 8am and will continue until 5pm.

The affected polling stations were supposed to hold voting on August 10, but the process was disrupted after polling personnel failed to reach the stations amid a tense law-and-order situation.

AJK Election Commission Secretary Raja Shakeel Ahmed Khan had said at the time that voting could not be conducted because of the unrest.

The third phase of the AJK elections was conducted on August 10 across four constituencies in Bagh and Haveli districts. However, polling in seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti had to be deferred because of security concerns.

During the August 10 polling, unofficial figures from 203 of the 213 polling stations in LA-15 Bagh-2 put Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Zia Qamar in front with 16,696 votes while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas was in second place with 15,099 votes.

In LA-16 Bagh-3, PML-N candidate Sardar Mir Akbar Khan was leading PPP's Sardar Qamar Zaman Khan according to the unofficial count available at the time.

The fresh polling in LA-15 Bagh-2 is being held at nine stations, where 5,032 registered voters are eligible to participate. Meanwhile, 14 polling stations in LA-16 Bagh-3 have reopened, with 7,238 voters entitled to cast their votes.

Separately, the AJK Election Commission has formally notified the winners of two Bagh constituencies. 
Sajid Iqbal, representing Awami Dast-o-Bazo, has been declared successful in LA-14 Bagh-1, while PPP leader and sitting AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore has officially secured victory in LA-17 Bagh-4.

The first phase of the AJK elections saw the PML-N capture nine of the 13 seats in the Mirpur division, with the PPP taking the remaining four.

In the second phase, elections were held for nine seats in the Muzaffarabad division as well as 12 refugee-reserved seats. The PML-N won 15 of these seats, while the PPP secured six.

With the first two phases completed, the PML-N has strengthened its position as the largest political force in the region, holding 24 seats compared with the PPP's 10.