PTI, PPP retain seats in AJK bypolls

MIRPUR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) have retrained their seats in the by-elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in Mirpur and Kotli respectively.

The by-elections were held for two constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly for Mirpur LA-3 and LA-12 Kotli-V constituencies. The PTI won in LA-3 Mirpur-III, while the PPP candidate won in LA-12 Kotli-V.

Strict security measures were taken during the polling process as army troops were deployed at polling stations. Voting commenced at 8:00 AM and continued till 5:00 PM without any interval.

The LA-3 (Mirpur-III) seat had fallen vacant after Barrister Sultan Mehmood Choudhry’s election as AJK president, who won this seat as a PTI candidate in the July 25 general elections.

The Mirpur constituency has 85,925 registered voters including 45,447 males and 40,478 females voters. 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 Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin’s resignation from one out of two seats he had won in the general elections from Kotli city and Charhoi constituencies. A total of 106,428 voters, including 57,838 males and 48,590 females were registered to exercise their right to elect their representative for the AJK LA.

Unofficial results showed that the PPP’s Aamir Yaseen defeated the PTI’s Shaukat Farid Advocate by securing 24,335 votes while the PTI candidate could manage 18,858 votes.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari congratulated his party workers and supporters for the victory. “Congratulations to all PPP workers on another victory from Azad Kashmir. We beat PTI in yet another by-election,” he tweeted.