Pakistan-administered Kashmir votes in reduced third phase amid unrest

Voting postponed successful 7 of 11 Poonch part constituencies arsenic boycott calls and unit mar the region’s legislative elections.

Islamabad, Pakistan – Voting is nether mode successful the 3rd and last signifier of Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s Legislative Assembly elections, but conscionable 4 of the 11 constituencies primitively scheduled to ballot are going to the polls owed to unrest successful the region.

More than 800 polling booths successful Bagh and Haveli districts of Poonch part successful Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), arsenic the portion is known, opened astatine 8am (03:00 GMT) connected Monday and volition adjacent astir 5pm (12:00 GMT). About 460,000 radical are registered to vote.

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AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, who belongs to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), is defending his spot successful Haveli.

In Bagh, 2 erstwhile premier ministers are successful the fray – Sardar Tanveer Ilyas of the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party against Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan of the Muslim Conference.

(Al Jazeera)

Elections successful the remaining 7 constituencies, 5 successful Poonch and 2 successful Sudhnoti district, were postponed past week implicit information concerns. Officials said a caller polling day volition beryllium announced successful the coming days.

The postponement came aft weeks of protests by the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a section unit radical demanding the abolition of 12 seats successful the determination legislature reserved for displaced Kashmiris surviving elsewhere successful Pakistan.

Violence during the JAAC-led protests killed much than 50 people, according to residents and rights groups. The authorities has not shared an authoritative decease toll but said astatine slightest 7 constabulary and paramilitary unit person been killed.

The JAAC, which has called for a boycott of the legislative elections, was banned by the authorities successful June nether “antiterrorism” laws.

The authorities person besides banned planetary media from reporting from the region. Their reporters were told this period to permission and question clearance from the authorities earlier returning to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Monday’s ballot is the past of the three-phase polls for the 53-member Legislative Assembly.

The Mirpur part voted connected July 27, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), which governs Pakistan, won 9 of its 13 seats. The PPP took four. Polling successful the Muzaffarabad part and 12 exile constituencies crossed the state took spot connected August 2 with the PMLN winning 15 seats and the PPP six.

Election authorities recorded a turnout of 46 percent successful the archetypal signifier and 53 percent successful the 2nd – some beneath the much than 60 percent recorded successful 2021 and 2016.

The scaled-back ballot reflects months of unrest centred connected Poonch division, the JAAC’s stronghold, wherever an intermittent net shutdown has stretched beyond 50 days.