Blaze News - Pakistan

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Chaudhry Mohsin Aziz has challenged the election results in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) LA-17 Haveli-Kahuta constituency, alleging tampering in Form-24 and seeking a recount of votes. The third phase, covering Bagh and Haveli, followed polling in the Mirpur and Muzaffarabad divisions and is expected to influence the balance of power in the AJK Legislative Assembly. The Election Commission of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJKEC) admitted his application for hearing and summoned the parties for a hearing at 10am on Thursday in Muzaffarabad. The application was filed before the chief election commissioner through Aziz’s lawyers, Raja Sajjad Advocate and Chaudhry Ghulam Nabi Advocate. Aziz has also challenged Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to agree to a recount, saying he would quit politics if he failed to win the constituency by a substantial margin after the recount. READ: Political tensions s...

Political tensions in Azad Jammu and Kashmir's (AJK) LA-17 Haveli constituency on Wednesday escalated after several vehicles parked along a roadside in the village of Hoter were vandalised, with allegations also surfacing that passports and cash belonging to some visitors were taken during the incident. The AJK general elections are being held in phases across the territory. Polling in the first phase, covering Mirpur Division, has already been completed, followed by the second phase in Muzaffarabad Division and the refugee constituencies. Local sources alleged that workers affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and an independent candidate attacked people gathered outside the residence of Zahid Hashmi, a senior Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and president of the International Kashmir Peace Forum Europe (IKPF), in his native village. During the alleged attack, several vehicles parked on the roadside were damaged with their windows smashed, according t...

Polling in the Bagh and Haveli constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Rawalakot Division will be held on Monday, amid heightened security, while elections in Rawalakot are likely to be conducted on August 20 or 21 if the ongoing protest sit-in in Rawalakot is resolved within the next few days, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said on Saturday. Speaking to the media, the chief election commissioner said the AJK Election Commission had decided to hold polling in Bagh and Haveli first due to security considerations, with security personnel already deployed in the two districts and election material being transported under the supervision of the armed forces. He said sufficient security arrangements had been made at polling stations, particularly those declared highly sensitive. As many as eight security personnel would be deployed at each highly sensitive polling station, he added. Read: Final phase of AJK electoral process hits a sna...

Voting will be held on Tuesday in LA-27 Kotla and at 51 polling stations in LA-28 Lachhrat constituencies, where polling was deferred after adverse weather conditions prevented election material from reaching the stations in time during the second phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections on August 2. The Election Commission has completed arrangements for the polling with heightened security measures in place. Personnel from the Pakistan Army, Rangers and police will be deployed at polling stations to ensure a peaceful and orderly voting process. Polling at the affected stations could not take place on Sunday as severe weather disrupted the transportation of election material. The Election Commission subsequently rescheduled the voting for Tuesday. In LA-27 Kotla, the electoral contest is being closely watched with the main battle expected among IPP candidate Sardar Tabarak Ali, PML-N’s Noreen Arif and PPP’s Sardar Javed Ayub. The constituency has 107,061 registe...