PML-N dominates AJK election with 13 wins as PPP claims 5 seats

PML-N has secured 13 of 18 declared constituencies in the second phase of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s elections, while PPP raised its tally to five after winning LA-26 Neelum Valley-2, according to unofficial and provisional results announced Sunday. The phase has been accompanied by disputed allegations of rigging and violence, including a fatal shooting.

PPP’s Mian Abdul Waheed won Neelum Valley-2 with 17,466 votes against PML-N’s Shah Ghulam Qadir’s 15,494, after all 135 polling stations reported. The result reversed the neighboring contest in Neelum Valley-1, where PML-N’s Qadir had earlier defeated PPP’s Waheed by a wider margin, 18,925 to 13,596 — the same two candidates effectively swapping outcomes across adjacent constituencies.

PML-N’s tally reached 13 after Nasir Hussain Dar won LA-34 Jammu-1 with 5,682 votes against independent candidate Raja Riaz Ahmed’s 2,124. The party also held LA-32 Muzaffarabad-6, where Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider narrowly defeated PPP’s Sahibzada Muhammad Ashfaq Zafar, 21,156 to 19,010, and won LA-39 Jammu-6, where Raja Muhammad Siddique defeated PPP’s Chaudhry Fakhar Zaman by a wide margin, 10,981 to 5,081.

PPP secured LA-33 Muzaffarabad-7, where Diwan Ali Khan Qamar Chughtai polled 25,469 votes against PML-N’s Mian Muhammad Rashid’s 21,175, and won LA-40 Kashmir Valley-1 by a lopsided margin, with Aamir Abdul Ghaffar’s 2,914 votes against Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party candidate Muhammad Saleem Butt’s 136.

With 18 of 20 second-phase constituencies now declared, PML-N holds a commanding lead with 13 seats to PPP’s five, with results pending in the remaining two. Polling concluded Sunday after authorities extended voting by an hour to 6pm across nine Muzaffarabad division constituencies, citing large voter turnout. Voting also took place simultaneously in all 12 refugee constituencies — six reserved for Kashmir Valley refugees and six for Jammu region refugees — with 137 candidates contesting those seats.

As in the first phase, PPP alleged the polling was marred by rigging, escalating into specific claims of violence against party figures. PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf rejected the process outright, calling the resulting mandate fake and accusing PML-N of pushing the situation toward instability. He alleged acting AJK President Chaudhry Latif Akbar was physically assaulted and abused by PML-N supporters, questioned whether the killing of a 70-year-old PPP worker in Khawra with sticks should be considered anything other than murder, and claimed polling material failed to reach one Kotli constituency while several stations in Bazil Naqvi’s constituency saw voting suspended. He held the Chief Election Commissioner responsible, alleging the commission had failed to act on any complaint over five years and was operating under rival party influence. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari separately condemned the killing of PPP worker Mushtaq Shah in LA-31, saying the assault on Akbar followed by the worker’s death exposed what he called PML-N’s intentions.

PML-N rejected these characterizations. Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah said Bilawal had been given incorrect information and was being misled into making false statements, adding that only three incidents were reported across all of AJK during polling. Regarding the Akbar incident, Sanaullah described a dispute between Akbar and members of the Sadat family at a polling station that turned into an altercation, saying “we are responsible” for whatever occurred but disputing the characterization of it as an attack on the AJK president. On the Khawra incident involving MNA Salahuddin Junejo, Sanaullah said Junejo entered a polling station accompanied by Sindh Police personnel, and that Junejo’s gunmen opened fire after entering a third station, with reports of return fire from the other side; he said Junejo may have sustained a bullet injury, though this remained unconfirmed, and questioned why the MNA had gone to the polling station at all.

The sharply conflicting accounts from both parties — over the Khawra shooting’s circumstances, the characterization of the Akbar dispute, and the broader rigging allegations — leave the precise sequence of events at several incidents unresolved based on available reporting, with each side’s account attributing responsibility differently. Whether the Election Commission investigates and issues findings on these disputed incidents, and how the final two undeclared constituencies affect the overall seat count, will likely shape how credible either party’s characterization of this phase proves once a fuller picture emerges.