MUZAFFARABAD: Three candidates of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and one of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) returned against four vacant seats of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Council in elections held here on Monday.

The Council members are elected by the AJK Assembly members in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote.

Out of the 52 existing MLAs, 50 cast their vote for the council elections, including president-elect Barrister Sultan Mahmood.

The PTI’s candidates who emerged victorious were Sardar Abdul Razzaq of Kotli with 12 votes and Shuja Khurshid Rathore of Haveli and Mir Mohammad Younis of Muzaffarabad with 11 votes each.

Mohammad Asghar, who had also filed nominations in the hope of getting PTI ticket, did not get any vote.

The PTI has 32 votes of its own and one each of its allies from the Muslim Conference and the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Party.

On the other hand, the PPP has 11 votes and Pakistan PML-N, another constituent of the opposition, has seven votes.

As part of their strategy to field joint candidates, the PML-N had withdrawn its candidate in favour of the PPP.

On behalf of the PPP, Khawaja Tariq Saeed of Haveli district and Chaudhry Pervez Ashraf of Bhimber district had submitted their nominations.

Two PML-N lawmakers – Shah Ghulam Qadir and Waqar Ahmed Noor – did not turn up to cast their votes.

These four council seats had fallen vacant in May this year after the expiry of the five-year term of Pervaiz Malick, Akhtar Pervez Awan, Mir Mohammad Younis and Sardar Mukhtar Ahmed Abbasi.

Another two seats, currently held by PML-N members Abdul Khaliq Wasi and Mohammad Siddique Batli, will also fall vacant in December this year.

Meanwhile, PPP senior leader Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin who had returned from two constituencies of district Kotli on July 25, took oath of office from LA- 10 Kotli-II, vacating LA-12, Kotli-IV for by-election.

On the other hand, after the administration of oath to the president elect on August25, his assembly seat will also fall vacant, necessitating a by-election in LA-3, Mirpur-III.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021