MIRPUR: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regional president Barrister Sultan Mahmood on Sunday defeated Chaudhry Sohaib Saeed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in a by-election in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to unofficial results from 119 polling stations in LA-III Mirpur-3, the veteran politician bagged 17,617 votes against 14,819 clinched by his rival. There were 14 candidates but the real contest was between the PTI and PML-N.
The PPP had also thrown its weight behind the PML-N as both parties had resolved to support any candidate that had won the general elections. Jamaat-e-Islami had also announced its support for the PML-N candidate.
LA-III, Mirpur-3 comprises the municipal as well as some of peripheral areas of the city. The constituency has 59,494 registered voters including 32,490 men and the rest women.
According to officials the voter turnout was low. The government had taken strict measures to ensure conducive atmosphere by dividing the constituency into eight zones and 20 sectors. Around 2,719 police personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.
The seat fell vacant after the ruling PML-N lawmaker Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed was disqualified by the AJK Supreme Court. Saeed was tried by a division bench after a Mirpur resident filed an application last year, alleging that he had encroached upon the state land.
The minister tendered an unconditional apology and surrendered the allegedly encroached land, but his plea were turned down and he was disqualified on September 25.
The PML-N candidate Sohaib is his son and a former president of the AJK Chamber of Commerce and Industry. PTI candidate Sultan Mahmood is a former prime minister of AJK between 1996-2001.
LA-III Mirpur-3 has held the voting process nine times since 1985, eight times in general elections and one by-election. Mahmood had remained successful in all but two of the previous polls. He lost the general elections of 1991 and 2016.
In 2011, Mahmood was a PPP candidate in general elections. He resigned from the assembly in 2015 and defected to PTI. He returned in the by-election held on March 29, 2015 as a PTI candidate, defeating Chaudhry Ashraf of the PPP.
The strength of PTI in the 49-member AJK legislature has now risen to three. The other two PTI lawmakers were elected in the general elections from the constituencies of Kashmiri refugees.
Among the other opposition parties in AJK, PPP and Muslim Conference have four and three lawmakers respectively, while Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party has one while another is an independent lawmaker.
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