MUZAFFARABAD – Unofficial results show the PTI leading the race in thefirst phase of the local government elections, which were held held in AzadJammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Sunday after a lapse of three decades.
According to a tweet by the PTI’s official Twitter handle, it had secured34 of the UC seats, followed by the PPP with 23, PML-N with nine,independent candidates with four and Muslim Conference with three.
According to unofficial results, the PTI bagged six union council seats inHattian Bala’s Jhelum Valley out of a total of 18. The PML-N managed tograb three seats followed by the PPP with two.
Similarly, in Neelum Valley, the PTI took the lead, winning eight UC seats,as per unofficial results. The PML-N grabbed three seats in Neelum Valleywhile the PPP managed to bag two. Two independent candidates also won there.
However, the PML-N was ahead in the race for the Muzaffarabad MunicipalCorporation wards. Of the unofficial results of 29 of the 36 wards of theMuzaffarabad Municipal Corporation, the PML-N managed to secure 12 of them.It was followed by the PTI and PPP, both bagging six wards each.
Independent candidates won five wards while the Muslim Conference couldonly secure one.
As per reports, exchange of fire between two parties at two pollingstations left many injured, including a woman.
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The local body polls in AJK are being conducted in three phases across thestate due to non-provision of additional security personnel from thefederal government.
The polling started from 8am and concluded at to 5pm without any break.
At least 2,725 candidates are contesting for 614 local body seats including31 women. Around 19 candidates have already been elected as councilorsunopposed.
On the directions of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), theadministration had established 1,223 polling stations which include 397 formales, 387 for females and 530 joint stations.
575 Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates, 465 from the Pakistan MuslimLeague (N), 545 from the Pakistan Peoples Party, 113 from All Jammu andKashmir Muslim Conference, 67 from TLP, 46 from JI while 900 independentcandidates are contesting.
