The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Azad Kashmir won six out of the eight reserved seats in the elections of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Sunday, raising its strength to 29 seats in a House of 49. Elections for the reserved seats were held here in the assembly building on Sunday, APP reported.
The PPP won six seats (three women and one each of Ulema Mashaikh, Technocrat and Overseas Kashmiris) while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Muslim Conference won one women’s seat each. Those who were elected on five reserved seats for women were PPP’s Shazia Akbar, Sadaf Shaikh and Shaheen Dar, PML-N’s Fauzia Ashraf and the Muslim Conference’s Meher-un-Nisa, who was elected with the help of two PPP votes.
Sardar Abid Hussain Abid, Pir Attiq-u-Rehman and Raja Wajid of the PPP were elected on the seats of Technocrat, Ulema Mashaikh and Overseas Kashmiris respectively with the majority vote of 25. All the newly-elected members of the Legislative Assembly on general and reserved seats will take oath on Monday when the assembly meets at 10am.
Soon after the oath-taking, the speaker and deputy speaker will be elected. The election for prime minister will be held on Tuesday. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani congratulated the PPP candidates on winning the reserved seats, NNI reported. In his message, the prime minister said the victory of PPP candidates was a manifestation of the confidence of the people in their policies.