AJK Elections: Polling Underway at 23 Delayed Stations in Bagh

Voting resumed on Thursday across 23 polling stations in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Bagh district to clear the pending election outcomes for two regional constituencies, LA-15 and LA-16. According to Dawn Pakistan, polling officially opened at 8:00 AM and is set to continue until 5:00 PM without interruptions.

The election commission had earlier withheld the results for both constituencies during the third phase of local balloting due to polling disruptions at several locations. In LA-15 (Bagh Central), process completion was halted after nine stations failed to conduct voting. Before the delay, Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Sardar Ziaul Qamar led the race with 16,637 votes, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz representative Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas with 15,015 votes and Jamaat-i-Islami candidate retired Brig Dr Muhammad Khan with 12,259 votes.

Meanwhile, the declaration for LA-16 (Eastern Bagh) remained pending because polling could not be carried out at 14 polling stations, which collectively account for 7,238 registered voters. Tallying from the completed stations in LA-16 showed PML-N candidate Sardar Mir Akbar in the lead with 19,515 votes, holding a margin of over 3,200 votes against his primary rival, PPP candidate Sardar Qamaruz Zaman.

The ongoing vote at these remaining 23 locations is crucial for concluding the electoral process in the district. Once polling concludes at 5:00 PM, electoral authorities will combine the new tallies with existing figures to officially announce the winning candidates for both assembly seats.