Voting resumed on Saturday Aug,15, at 23 polling stations in two constituencies of Bagh district, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, after polling was postponed Aug. 10 because election staff did not arrive and unrest affected the situation, the polling began at 8 a.m. and is scheduled to continue until 5 p.m.
Voting is taking place at nine polling stations in LA-15 Bagh-2, where 5,032 voters are eligible to cast their ballots. In LA-16 Bagh-3, polling is underway at 14 stations, with 7,238 registered voters eligible to vote.
AJK Election Commission Secretary Raja Shakeel Ahmed Khan had said the affected polling stations could not hold voting on Aug. 10 because of unrest and the absence of polling staff.
The polling is part of the third phase of the AJK elections. On Aug. 10, voting was held in four constituencies in the Bagh and Haveli districts, while polling in seven constituencies of Poonch and Sudhnoti was postponed because of law and order concerns.
Before voting was postponed at the affected stations, unofficial results from 203 of 213 polling stations in LA-15 Bagh-2 showed Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Zia Qamar leading with 16,696 votes. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz candidate Muhammad Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas had 15,099 votes.
In LA-16 Bagh-3, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz candidate Sardar Mir Akbar Khan was leading against Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Sardar Qamar Zaman Khan.
The AJK elections have been conducted in three phases. In the first phase, the PML-N won nine of 13 seats in the Mirpur division, while the PPP secured four seats.
In the second phase, voters cast ballots for nine seats in the Muzaffarabad division and 12 seats reserved for refugees. The PML-N won 15 seats, while the PPP secured six. After the first two phases, the PML-N emerged as the dominant party in the region with 24 seats, while the PPP won 10.
