Vote counting is underway following polling in the third phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly elections, held on August 10 in Bagh and Haveli districts of the Poonch Division. Elections in the division’s remaining two districts, Poonch and Sudhanoti, were postponed and will be held at a later date to be announced.
According to unofficial and unconfirmed results, the Awami Dast-o-Bazu Party has won one of Bagh district’s three seats, with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leading on one seat and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leading on another. In Haveli, the PPP candidate is currently ahead.
Bagh District Results
In LA-14 Bagh-1, Awami Dast-o-Bazu candidate Sajid Iqbal has won the seat, defeating former Azad Kashmir Prime Minister and Muslim Conference leader Sardar Attique Ahmed by a large margin.
In LA-15 Bagh-2, with results in from 203 of 213 polling stations, PPP candidate Zia Qamar leads with 16,696 votes against PML-N’s Mushtaq Minhas at 15,099 votes — a margin of roughly 1,500 votes, with 10 stations still to report.
In LA-16 Bagh-3, results from 174 of 186 polling stations show PML-N candidate Sardar Mir Akbar Khan ahead with 19,515 votes, followed by PPP’s Sardar Qamar Zaman Khan with 16,290 votes. PML-N leads by more than 3,000 votes, with 12 stations outstanding.
In LA-17 Bagh-4, with 155 of 199 polling stations reporting, PPP candidate Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore leads with 27,274 votes ahead of PML-N’s Chaudhry Mohsin Aziz at 24,656 votes — a lead of roughly 3,000 votes, with 44 stations yet to report.
Recap: First and Second Phases
In the first phase, polling covered 13 seats across the Mirpur Division — four in Mirpur district, three in Bhimber, and six in Kotli. PML-N won 9 seats, while PPP secured 4.
In the second phase, held August 2, elections covered 9 seats in the Muzaffarabad Division and 12 refugee-reserved seats. PML-N won 15 of these, with PPP taking 6.
A party requires at least 23 seats for a simple majority in the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly. PML-N had already crossed this threshold with 24 seats combined from the first two phases.
Majority Secured
Of the four seats decided in this phase of counting, PML-N currently leads by more than 3,000 votes on one — LA-16 Bagh-3. If that lead holds, PML-N’s total will rise to 25 seats, extending its majority.
What’s Next
A fourth phase will complete the electoral process, with polling for the remaining 7 seats of the Poonch Division — 5 in Poonch and 2 in Sudhanoti districts.