National ( The cow news digital ) Polling for the second phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) general elections commenced on Sunday across nine constituencies of the Muzaffarabad division and 12 seats reserved for Jammu and Kashmir refugees residing across Pakistan.
Voting began uninterrupted at 8:00 AM and will continue until 5:00 PM without any breaks. Election authorities have established 1,483 polling stations across the Muzaffarabad division to facilitate over 890,000 registered voters, comprising 427,955 male and 381,666 female voters across three districts.
Simultaneously, voting is underway in major Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Karachi, for the refugee constituencies. In Karachi, polling stations were set up for seats Jammu-1 and Kashmir Valley-1, catering to thousands of registered voters. Rawalpindi and Islamabad are hosting polling for key seats including LA-39 (Jammu-6), LA-43 (Valley-4), and LA-44 (Valley-5).
Key political battles are taking place across several constituencies. In LA-43 Valley-4, 12 candidates are competing, with major contenders including Javed Butt of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muhammad Yasin of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Hamza Majeed representing the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP).
Similarly, LA-44 Valley-5 sees a multi-cornered contest among PML-N’s Ahmad Raza Qadri, PPP’s Muhammad Rashid Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Haneef Manzoor Dar, and Muslim Conference candidate Mehr-un-Nisa. Meanwhile, in LA-39 Jammu-6—which covers voters across Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Jhelum, Chakwal, Attock, and Peshawar—14 candidates are vying for the seat, including PPP’s Chaudhry Fakhar Zaman and PML-N’s Raja Muhammad Siddique.
Strict security measures have been deployed around sensitive polling stations to ensure a peaceful and transparent voting process throughout the day.
