Forty-six newly elected members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly took oath during a session in Muzaffarabad on Monday afternoon.
AJK Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar administered oath to the newly-elected members.
Thirty-one MLAs were belonged to PML-N, 14 to PPP and one member was of Awami Dasto Bazu.
Awami Dasto Bazu’s MLA Sajid Iqbal Abbasi announced to join the PML-N, which took Nawaz League’s tally to 32.
The schedule for election of speaker and deputy is likely to be announced today and elections would be held tomorrow.
According to sources, the Leader of the House will be elected on August 27 (Thursday).
PML-N wins six reserved seats
Earlier in the day, PML-N continued its rollercoaster ride in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections as the party won another six seats after polling held on reserved seats in the Legislative Assembly.
The voting took place in the Legislative Assembly on seven of the eight reserved seats. PML-N’s Abdur Rahman Arain had already been elected unpposed on overseas seat. PML-N’s totall tally of seats in the assembly has now risen to 31.
After completion of the polling on seven seats, the results were declared and accordingly PML-N grabbed lion’s share by winning five of the seven seats, though the party lost one seat to PPP after losing it on toss.
The PPP could only manage to win two reserved seats.
PML’s Iftikhar Gillani won the reserved seat after grabbing 26 votes. Nawaz League’s Mazhar Saeed Shah also won the seat after pocketing 26 votes.
PML-N’s women candidates were not much behind of their male counterparts, as they won three seats for their party. Maryam Idrees, Maryam Zaman and Sehrish Qamar were the winners.
PPP’s Farzana Yaqub was declared victories on a reserved seat. But PPP’s Zobia Khurshid Raja and PML-N Riffat Abid found themselves in a fix after they got equal number of votes.
According to the election laws, in such a situation toss will be carried out to decide the winner, and Zobia Khurshid Raja could not be more happy after seeing the coin flip in her favour.
Earlier, polling was held for seven reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.
Polling began at 10:00 am at the AJK Legislative Assembly building and was scheduled to continue until 1:00 pm. The secretary of the AJK Election Commission acted as the presiding officer.
The election was held for five seats reserved for women, one for Ulema and Mashaikh, and one for technocrats and other professionals. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Abdul Majid Khan cast the first vote in the reserved seats’ election.
The seat reserved for overseas Kashmiris had already been filled, with PML-N candidate Abdul Rehman declared elected unopposed after being the only candidate to submit nomination papers.
Six candidates contested the five seats reserved for women. The candidates included PML-N’s Riffat Abid, Sehrish Qamar, Maryam Idrees and Maryam Zaman, also known as Maryam Kashmiri, along with PPP’s Farzana Yaqub and Zobia Khurshid Raja.
For the seat reserved for Ulema and Mashaikh, PPP candidate Hafiz Tariq Mahmood faced PML-N’s Mohammad Mazhar Saeed. The technocrat and professional seat was contested by PML-N’s Barrister Syed Iftikhar Gillani and PPP’s Sahibzada Zulfiqar Ali.
The AJK Legislative Assembly has 53 members, including 45 directly elected members and eight members elected on reserved seats.
Elections to seven of the 45 directly elected constituencies, five in Poonch and two in Sudhnoti, could not be held because of the law and order situation. As a result, 38 directly elected members took part in the reserved-seat elections.
The incoming assembly’s inaugural session has been summoned for Monday afternoon. Newly-elected members are expected to take the oath following the announcement of the reserved-seat results. Elections for the speaker and deputy speaker will then be held.
The recent three-phase general elections saw PML-N emerged as the largest party with 25 seats, while PPP won 11 seats.
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