GUJRAT: Eight candidates are running for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K) Legislative Assembly’s constituency LA-38 which goes to poll on July 25.

The constituency comprises Kashmiri emigrants from Jammu area who are now settled in Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Wazirabad tehsil of Gujranwala district.

Gujrat houses an overwhelming majority of 34,000 voters out of 47,000. Wazirabad tehsil has around 11,000 votes and Mandi 2300.

In Gujrat, a major chunk of voters is based in Tanda, Jalalpur Jattan and Kotla areas.

The number of votes have actually been reduced from around 73,000 until 2016 to some 47,000 this time due to a sizeable cut after some legislation by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly in 2020 when around 25,000 voters got themselves registered in their native parts of AJ&K and only those voters were registered in LA- 38 who migrated from Jammu.

Five major political parties have fielded candidates for the seat that was previously won by Haji Javed Akhtar of PML-N in 2016.

The ruling coalition partners in Punjab, PTI and PML-Q, have jointly pitched Akbar Ibrahim who had contested as an independent in last elections of AJ&K in 2016 when the then joint candidate of both these parties Afzal Malhi stood third.

Similarly, the PML-N too has changed its candidate as Haji Javed Akhtar has some health issues. The PML-N have launched a new comer and young candidate Zeeshan Younis of Tanda as its candidate for LA-38.

The PPP has awarded its ticket to an England-based party loyalist Ashraf Chughtai who originally belongs to Jhelum district and is new to voters here. He is running his campaign with the help of some local party cadres.

The Muslim Conference has fielded Raja Shahid Iqbal from Lalamusa whereas Jamaat-i-Islami has pitched Rana Umar Siddique of Jalalpur Jattan and both belong to the Jarral clan of the Kashmiris.

The Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin chapters of ruling PTI and its lawmakers had expressed their reservations on the nomination of PML-Q backed Akbar Ibrahim as a PTI candidate, ignoring their recommendation to award ticket to a local party worker Chaudhary Zubair Tanda.

So far the local PTI chapters have not participated in the election campaign of Mr Ibrahim. However, hectic efforts are being made by the party leadership in Punjab to convince party officials and lawmakers to start campaign for the party candidate in their respective areas. Sources said disgruntled elements were likely to announce their support for Mr Ibrahim in the next couple of days but such people might not actively participate in the campaign.

The major contest is likely between PTI’s Akbar Ibrahim and PML N’s Zeeshan Younis since both belong to the same Tanda area of Gujrat which has highest votes.

Mr Ibrahim may have a slight edge for being an experienced campaigner as he won the seat twice in 2006 and 2011 and was a runner up in 2016 as an independent aspirant.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2021