ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to withhold award of party tickets for upcoming elections for legislative assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), according to the party sources.

They said that Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir Raja Farooq Haider had forwarded his recommendations for party tickets to the party Quaid Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and President Mian Shehbaz Sharif with a request that final announcement for the party candidates may not be made at this stage. “The party should wait for rival parties in the AJK elections - Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Pakistan People’s Party, Muslim Conference, to announce their candidates so that the respective hopefuls don’t join other party if they are not awarded the party tickets,” the sources quoted the AJK PM as having explained as rationale behind the suggestion. The party leadership, according to sources, has agreed to the suggestion by the AJK PM, Raja Farooq Haider. 

The party sources said that leadership had in principle decided to grant tickets to the sitting Members Legislative Assembly (MLAs) however, this formula may not be applied to some of the constituencies due to pressure by the powerful party members for awarding tickets to some else. It is to mention here that a few days back, President PML-N Mian Shahbaz Sharif had congratulated the AJK Parliamentary Board for doing their ‘job’ in a transparent, fair and judicious manner. Addressing the Parliamentary Board meeting here, he had said that the party needed exemplary unity as it was going to contest the election. 

PTI is likely to contest election without making an electoral alliance

According to sources in the PML-N, the AJK Parliamentary Board is going to meet again at the end of May and it is likely that the party will finalise its candidates for upcoming LA elections. The sources said that ticket aspirants were using different channels to approach top leadership but the final decision in this regard is yet to be taken. The PML-N had formed a parliamentary board for AJK elections 2021 in March. According to a party notification, a 26-member parliamentary board was announced with the signatures of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif. According to notification, Shehbaz will be the chairman of the parliamentary board; Raja Zafarul Haq, Raja Farooq Haider Khan, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Khwaja Asif are members of the board. Other members of the board are Ahsan Iqbal, Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shahbaz, Rana Sanaullah, Maryam Aurangzeb, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Chaudhry Burjis Tahir, Pervez Rashid, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Naseebullah Gardezi, Shah Ghulam Qadir, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Dr Najeeb Naqi Khan, Chaudhry Aziz, Engineer Khurram Dastgir, Raja Naseer Ahmad Khan, Barrister Iftikhar Gilani, Mushtaq Minhas, Chaudhry Ishaq, Shaukat Ali Shah and Zubair Iqbal Kayani. The parliamentary board will decide tickets for 2021 general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

At the end of April, AJK Election Commission had announced that general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir would be held sometime in July this year, schedule and the code of conduct for which would be announced in June. According to a spokesperson for the AJK Election Commission, an ‘action plan’ had been prepared for smooth conduct of polls. According to him, the final polling scheme would be published two weeks before the polling day. In July, election symbols would be allotted to the candidates and ballot papers would be printed. 

As all the parties have been preparing for the upcoming AJK LA elections, the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) is likely to contest the election without making an electoral alliance with any other political party, according to a spokesman for the PTI. As per party officials, the party has decided to field candidates with strong political credentials, public popularity and strong ties with the people. 

A meeting of the Parliamentary Board of the Pakistan People’s Party constituted by Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was also held here on April 23 regarding the general elections in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. President PPP Women’s Wing, Faryal Talpur attended the meeting via video link.

The main opposition PML-N had warned the PTI government against any effort to rig the upcoming elections in AJK, saying that any such action would be against the national interest and security of the country. Of the 45 constituencies of the AJK Legislative Assembly, 33 are located within the 13,297 sq kilometres AJK territory while the remaining 12 are located in the four provinces of Pakistan and are reserved for the migrants from India occupied Jammu and Kashmir as well as the people affected by Mangla Dam (construction and extension) who reside there.