Polling underway in the first phase of AJK local government elections after 31 years

6,95,049 voters in three districts of Muzaffarabad division will elect 595 councilors   

Polling is underway for the AJK local government elections after the gap of 31 years. Polling is taking place in three districts of Muzaffarabad Division — Neelum Valley, Jhelum Valley and Muzaffarabad in the first phase. Polling for the phase two will be held in the Poonch division on December 3 and polling for phase three in the Mirpur division on December 8. The polling will close at 5 pm.  

About 2,725 candidates are contesting for 614 local body seats. The candidates include 31 women. Meanwhile, 19 candidates have already been elected as councilors unopposed. The 695,049 voters from the Muzaffarabad division will elect 595 councilors in the first phase.

There are 411,072 voters in the Muzaffarabad district, 154,832 in the Jhelum valley district and 129,145 in the Neelum valley. There are also 900 independent candidates trying their luck in the local body elections.

 Among the political parties, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has issued the most tickets to its candidates at 575, while the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is in second place with 545 and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in third with 465, 113 from All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, 67 from TLP, 46 from JI.

About 1,223 polling stations and booths have been established for the elections which include 397 for males, 387 for females and 530 joint stations. There are 6,966 officials including presiding officers and polling officers performing election duties.

4,500 men from the Azad Kashmir Police have been deployed to maintain the law and order during the polling in the Muzaffarabad division.

                                                                           Insight247.news