Balloting underway at 23 polling stations in 2 constituencies of AJK's Bagh district

Polling is currently underway at 23 stations in two constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Bagh district. Polling began at 8am and will continue till 5pm. In the third phase of polling on Monday, PPP’s Sardar Ziaul Qamar secured 16,637 votes in LA-15 (Bagh Central), followed by PML-N’s Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas with 15,015 and Jamaat-i-Islami’s retired Brig Dr Muhammad Khan with 12,259. But as polling could not be held at nine stations in the constituency, the commission withheld the result. Similarly, the result of LA-16 (Eastern Bagh) was also withheld after polling could not be held at 14 stations, which have a combined 7,238 registered voters. Results from the remaining polling stations showed that PML-N’s Sardar Mir Akbar, who secured 19,515 votes, was leading his closest rival, PPP’s Sardar Qamaruz Zaman, by 3,225 votes. In both constituencies, all five candidates had accused their opponents of massive rigging. “Since we have more than enough police and other law enforcement personnel available, we have made adequate deployment at the polling stations to provide a fear-free environment to voters,” Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal told Dawn on Saturday. The PML-N bagged 24 seats — nine from Mirpur division in the first phase on July 27 and 15 in the second phase on Aug 2 comprising Muzaffarabad Division and the 12 refugee seats. The PPP, on the other hand, won only 10 constituencies during these phases. The polls are being held in phases amid unrest in the region. The third phase, held on Monday, was originally meant to cover all of Poonch Division, which comprises 11 constituencies, including three in Bagh, one in Haveli, five in Poonch district and two in Sudhnoti district. However, the AJK Election Commission announced that polling would only go ahead as scheduled in Bagh and Haveli because of concerns over the law and order situation. On Monday, polls went ahead in Bagh and Haveli, but the Election Commission later withheld the results of two constituencies pending repolling at 23 polling stations. It announced the result for LA-14 (Bagh-I), commonly known as Dhirkot, where Jammu Kashmir Awami Dast-o-Bazu Party candidate Sajid Iqbal Abbasi secured a landslide victory with 40,522 votes. LA-17 (Haveli), where AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore was contesting from, emerged as the most contentious constituency. The election was thrown into fresh controversy on Wednesday after the returning officer issued the Form 27 declaring him the winner despite an assurance, according to his PML-N rival Engr Mohsin Aziz, that the result would not be announced until his complaint was taken up by the Election Commission. Aziz subsequently challenged the election, with the AJK Chief Election Co­­mmissioner (CEC) retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal on Thursday reserving his decision after hearing arguments from both sides.