MUZAFFARABAD: The general elections for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will be held on July 27, the AJK Election Commission notified on Friday.

The notification, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said that candidates could file their nomination papers with returning officers from June 9 to 4pm on June 19. It said that the scrutiny of nomination papers would be carried out from June 20, while the list of the eligible candidates would be submitted on the same day.

It stated that the candidates will have between June 21 and June 24 to file appeals against rejection/acceptance of nomination papers, and the appeals will be heard on June 26 and 27 between 9am and 4pm.

According to the notification, the last date for decisions on appeals will be June 28 to June 29, and candidates can withdraw until June 30 before 2pm.

The list of contesting candidates will be published on July 1, and symbols will be allotted along with the final list the next day on July 2.

July 27 was notified as the polling day, with voting to begin at 8am and end at 5pm.

The election schedule was also announced in a press conference where Chief Election Commissioner retired justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said the polling will be held under the supervision of the army, paramilitary and civil armed forces.

The last elections in the region were held in July 2021.

The number of registered voters in AJK has increased by more than half a million over the past five years, according to fresh electoral rolls released by the region’s Election Commission on Thursday.

The latest voter lists show that the electorate in AJK’s 45 constituencies has risen to 3,804,385, up from 3,220,546 in the 2021 elections — an increase of 583,839 voters.

Of the total electorate, 3,365,839 voters are registered in the 33 constituencies within AJK, while 438,546 are registered in the 12 constituencies in Pakistan reserved for refugees from occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Figures released by the commission showed that the overall electorate comprises 2,001,730 male voters and 1,802,655 female voters.

Among the territorial constituencies, LA-7 Bhimber-III has the largest electorate with 129,994 voters, followed by LA-31 Muzaffarabad-V with 128,177 voters and LA-12 Kotli-V with 126,332 voters. The smallest constituency is LA-30 Muzaffarabad-IV, with 68,228 voters.