MUZAFFARABAD: A total of 843 candidates remained in the contest for the upcoming Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly elections after the completion of the nomination withdrawal process, election authorities said on Monday.

Secretary of the AJK Election Commission Raja Muhammad Shakeel told Dawn that 1,265 nomination papers had initially been filed. After excluding duplicate and multiple nominations filed by the same candidates, the number of valid nominations stood at 1,225.

He said that 382 candidates withdrew their nomination papers by the July 4 deadline, leaving 843 candidates in the electoral race.

Of these, 98 were in the four constituencies of Mirpur district, 63 in three constituencies of Bhimber district, 128 in six constituencies of Kotli district, 82 in four constituencies of Bagh and Haveli districts, 126 in seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti districts, 50 in two constituencies of Neelum district, 124 in five constituencies of Muzaffarabad district, 34 in two constituencies of Jhelum Valley district, 82 in six constituencies reserved for refugees from Jammu, and 56 in six constituencies reserved for refugees from the Kashmir Valley.

In the 2021 general elections, 708 candidates had remained in the contest after the withdrawal of nominations.

Mr Shakeel said election symbols were allotted on Monday to candidates sponsored by 26 registered political parties as well as independent contestants.

Among the major political parties, the arrow was allotted to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the tiger to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the eagle to the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), the balance to Jamaat-i-Islami, the horse to the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, and the sword to the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2026