2022 AJK local government elections

Local government elections were held in Azad Jammu and Kashmir on 27 November (Muzaffarabad division), 3 December 2022 (Poonch division) and 8 December 2022 (Mirpur division) in three phases. These local government elections were the first ones in more than three decades.[1] The results were declared for each of the three phases on their respective voting days. The elections will be held under the supervision of Election Commission of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

2022 AJK local government elections

← 1991 27 November 2022 TBA →

2614 seats (272 district councils + 132 Municipal corporation + 53 Town committee + 77 Municipal committee + 2080 Union council)
  Majority party Minority party Third party
 
Leader Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Shah Ghulam Qadir Chaudhry Latif Akbar
Party PTI PML(N) PPP
Leader since 18 April 2022 2 July 2022 24 March 2017
Seats won 830 497 460

In phase I elections were held in the Muzaffarabad division's three districts of Muzaffarabad, Neelum, and Jhelum Valley. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) became largest party in first phase by leading in two of the three districts followed by Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML(N)), which were the 2nd and 3rd largest parties respectively. Voting began at 8:00 am and ran until 5:00 pm without any interruption.[2]

In phase II elections were held in the Poonch division's four districts of Poonch, Haveli, Bagh and Sudhanoti. According to results from the second round of the local government elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in the lead with 259 seats. Following the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 139 seats and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)) took third position with 125 seats. Voting began at 8:00 am and ran until 5:00 pm without any interruption.[3][4][5]

In phase III elections were held in the Mirpur division's three districts of Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimber. According to results from the third round of the local government elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was in the lead with 374 seats. Following the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 231 seats and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) took third position with 140 seats. Voting began at 8:00 am and ran until 5:00 pm without any interruption.[6][7]

Background

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The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir ordered the three-phase election in the mountainous region, which is being held after at least a 31-year hiatus.[8] Part of the reason for this is that the federal government was unable to fulfil its responsibility to provide additional security personnel. Since the previous Local government (LG) elections in AJK were held in 1991 and the subsequent polls started to be scheduled in 1995, each government has been managing the LG institutions through the use of "administrators," who can either be government employees or party members.

The subject of LG elections had been pending in the AJK's superior courts since the beginning of the previous PML-N administration. The AJK Supreme Court had ordered the government to make preparations for LG elections by August 2022 in light of the 2017 census in December of last year after protracted legal proceedings.

On the government's request, the AJK Supreme Court reviewed the deadline in July 2022 and ordered that LG elections be held by October 15, 2022. The electoral commission then set the polling date for September 28. After then, the PPP and PML-N requested yet another extension, this time until March 2023, but the Supreme Court rejected their motion and extended the deadline to November 30 instead. The phase-wise election was announced for Muzaffarabad, Poonch, and Mirpur divisions on Nov 27, Dec 3, and Dec 8, respectively, even though the commission had set Nov 27 for voting throughout AJK due to Islamabad's refusal to provide an additional 40,000 personnel.[9]

Elections

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In terms of political parties, Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), will likely face off against each other in the elections. The PML-N and the PPP, two opposition parties, have teamed up. The Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party, the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, and Jamaat-i-Islami are contesting the election on their own and aim to win a respectable number of seats.[10]

Election day

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1,323 polling places will be staffed by around 4,500 police officers, while a Quick Response Force (QRF) made up of 500 police officers will be on alert in the background to handle any emergencies. The divisional commissioners dispelled the notion that security measures were minimal by stating that the entire division had been split into 11 zones, 130 sectors, and 64 QRF points, each of which would be overseen by senior police and administration officials who had been given first-class magistrate authority.[11]

Seats

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Division wise seats[12][13][14]
Division District council Municipal corporation Town committee Municipal committee Union council Total
Muzaffarabad division 74 36 14 10 535 669
Poonch division 84 36 30 18 696 866
Mirpur division 116 60 9 49 849 1083
Total 272 132 53 77 2080 2618

Candidates

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Muzaffarabad division

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Muzaffarabad division[15]
District District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total Unopposed
Muzaffarabad 274 1078 54 21 216 1643 14
Jhelum Valley 101 422 8 13 - 544 4
Neelum 83 422 15 9 - 529 1
Total 458 1922 77 43 216 2716 19

Poonch division

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Poonch division[16]
District District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total Unopposed
Poonch 150 659 74 30 169 1082 2
Haveli 61 302 - 9 - 372 1
Bagh 225 905 26 - 93 1249 -
Sudhanoti 144 632 54 50 - 880 -
Total 580 2498 154 89 262 3583 3

Mirpur division

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Mirpur division[17]
District District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total Unopposed
Mirpur 143 510 - 135 236 1024 3
Kotli 430 1553 15 47 86 2131 16
Bhimber 214 792 29 67 - 1102 -
Total 787 2855 44 249 322 4257 19

Polling stations

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Polling stations[18]
Sr. No District Polling station
1 Mirpur 625
2 Bhimber 535
3 Muzaffarabad 791
4 Neelam Valley 243
5 Poonch 694
6 Haveli 174
7 Bagh 558
8 Sudhanoti 436
9 Hattian 276
10 Kotli 1025
Total 5357

Voter statistics

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Voter stats AJK and refugees[19]
District Male Female Total Refugees
Neelam Valley 69,475 59,823 129,298 -
Muzaffarabad 219,173 189,695 408,868 616
Jhelum Valley 83,545 71,229 154,774 16
Bagh 157,670 142,478 300,148 362
Haveli 54,262 47,486 101,748 -
Poonch 204,586 182,588 387,174 -
Sudhanoti 120,641 107,302 227,943 -
Kotli 305,297 263,754 569,051 1,133
Mirpur 189,177 176,801 365,978 -
Bhimber 161,076 141,944 303,020 -
Total AJK voters 1,564,902 1,383,100 2,948,002 -
Total refugees voters 2,127
Total voters 2,950,129

Results

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Muzaffarabad division (Phase I)

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Party wise results

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Party wise results[20]
Party District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total seats won
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf   32 148 5 4 8 197
Pakistan People's Party   22 159 2 5 7 195
Pakistan Muslim League (N)   11 98 5 1 12 127
AJK Muslim Conference   3 18 0 0 2 23
Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party   1 0 0 0 0 1
Jamaat-i-Islami   0 1 0 0 0 1
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan   0 1 0 0 0 1
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)   0 1 0 0 0 1
Independent 4 105 2 0 7 118
Total seats 74 535 14 10 36 669

Results by district council

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District council Seats Ref
PPP PTI PML (N) AJK Muslim Conference JK PP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami TLP Independent
               
Muzaffarabad 40 16 15 3 3 1 0 0 0 2 [21]
Jhelum Valley TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Neelum TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Results by Municipal corporation

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PML (N) PTI PPP AJK Muslim Conference TLP JK PP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Muzaffarabad 35 12 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 7 [22]
Jhelum Valley TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Neelum TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Poonch division (Phase II)

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Party wise results

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Party wise results[23]
Party District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total seats won
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf   30 200 12 6 11 259
Pakistan Muslim League (N)   23 106 3 4 3 139
Pakistan People's Party   12 100 5 2 6 125
Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party   5 15 2 0 8 30
AJK Muslim Conference   4 25 1 0 0 30
Jamaat-i-Islami   0 7 0 0 0 7
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan   0 6 0 0 0 6
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)   1 3 0 0 0 4
Independent 9 236 7 6 8 263
Total seats 84 698 30 18 36 866

Results by district council

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District council Seats Ref
PTI PML (N) PPP JK PP AJK Muslim Conference Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami TLP Independent
               
Bagh 28 13 3 3 0 4 0 0 0 5 [24]
Poonch 27 6 9 6 5 0 0 0 0 1
Sudhanoti 19 10 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 3
Haveli 10 1 6 3 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 84 30 23 12 5 4 1 0 0 9

Results by municipal corporation

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PPP JK PP PML (N) AJK Muslim Conference TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Poonch 22 2 4 8 3 0 0 0 0 5
Bagh 14 9 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 [25]
Haveli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sudhanoti 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 36 11 6 8 3 0 0 0 0 8

Results by union council

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PML (N) PPP AJK Muslim Conference JK PP Jamaat-i-Islami TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Independent
               
Poonch 243 65 33 32 1 15 5 5 1 86
Bagh 204 52 15 25 23 0 2 0 0 89 [26]
Sudhanoti 152 67 31 7 1 0 0 1 2 43
Haveli 97 16 27 36 0 0 0 0 0 18
Total 698 200 106 100 25 15 7 6 3 236

Results by municipal committee

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PML (N) PPP AJK Muslim Conference TLP JK PP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Sudhanoti 8 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Poonch 7 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 4
Haveli 3 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bagh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 [27]
Total 18 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 6

Results by town committee

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PPP PML (N) JK PP AJK Muslim Conference TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Poonch 16 6 4 1 2 0 0 0 0 3
Sudhanoti 10 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
Bagh 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 [28]
Haveli 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 30 12 5 3 2 1 0 0 0 7

Mirpur division (Phase III)

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Party wise results

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Party wise results[29]
Party District council Union council Town committee Municipal committee Municipal corporation Total seats won
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf   55 277 1 14 27 374
Pakistan Muslim League (N)   26 178 3 9 15 231
Pakistan People's Party   19 113 0 6 2 140
AJK Muslim Conference   0 6 1 1 0 8
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan   0 7 0 0 0 7
Jamaat-i-Islami   0 1 0 0 0 1
Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party   0 0 0 0 0 0
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)   0 0 0 0 0 0
Independent 16 261 4 19 16 316
Total seats 116 849 9 49 60 1079

Results by district council

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District council Seats Ref
PTI PML (N) PPP JK PP AJK Muslim Conference Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami TLP Independent
               
Mirpur 27 20 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3
Kotli 10 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Bhimber 27 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total 82 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Results by municipal corporation

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PPP JK PP PML (N) AJK Muslim Conference TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Mirpur 14 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Kotli 0 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Bhimber 22 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total 36 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Results by union council

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PPP PML (N) AJK Muslim Conference JK PP Jamaat-i-Islami TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Independent
               
Mirpur 204 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Kotli 97 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Bhimber 243 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total 696 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Results by municipal committee

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PML (N) PPP AJK Muslim Conference TLP JK PP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Mirpur 0 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Kotli 3 TBA TBA TBA TBA 0 TBA TBA TBA TBA
Bhimber 7 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total 18 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

Results by town committee

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Municipal corporation Seats Ref
PTI PPP PML (N) JK PP AJK Muslim Conference TLP Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) Jamaat-i-Islami Independent
               
Mirpur 4 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Kotli 0 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Bhimber 16 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA
Total 30 TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA TBA

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Voting underway as Azad Kashmir holds first local bodies elections in 31 years". The Nation. 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  2. ^ "PTI leads in 1st phase of AJK LG polls". The Express Tribune. 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  3. ^ "PTI leads in second phase of AJK local polls". Pakistan Today. 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  4. ^ "Second phase of AJK LG polls concludes peacefully". Daily Times. 2022-12-04. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  5. ^ "PTI leads in second phase of AJK local polls". Dunya News. Retrieved 2022-12-08.
  6. ^ Naqash, Tariq (2022-12-09). "PTI clinches victories in most rural, urban councils of Mirpur". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  7. ^ "PML-N leads in final phase of AJK local govt polls". The Express Tribune. 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2023-01-08.
  8. ^ "Kashmir votes in first local government elections in over three decades". Pakistan Today. 2022-11-27. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  9. ^ Naqash, Tariq (2022-11-27). "AJK votes in local elections after decades". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  10. ^ "Grassroots representation". The News International. 2022-07-10. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  11. ^ Naqash, Tariq (2022-11-27). "AJK votes in local elections after decades". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  12. ^ "Council Wise Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  13. ^ "Council Wise Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  14. ^ "Check Results | Local Bodies Election - 2022". ec.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  15. ^ "Local Bodies". Election Commission of AJK. Retrieved 2022-11-27.
  16. ^ "Local Bodies". Election Commission of AJK. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  17. ^ "Local Bodies". Election Commission of AJK. Retrieved 2022-12-03.
  18. ^ "Local Bodies". Election Commission of AJK. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  19. ^ "Local Bodies". Election Commission of AJK. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  20. ^ "Check Results | Local Bodies Election - 2022". ec.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-11-28.
  21. ^ Successful candidates list, in AJK local government election 2022 (4 December 2022). "AJK Election Commission" (PDF). AJK Election Commission. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Successful candidates list of, Municipal Corporation (4 December 2022). "AJK Election Commission" (PDF). Election Commission of AJK. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  23. ^ "Council Wise Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  24. ^ "Poonch Division District Council Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  25. ^ "Poonch Division Municipal Corporation Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  26. ^ "Poonch Division Union Council Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  27. ^ "Poonch Division Municipal Committee Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  28. ^ "Poonch Division Town Committee Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-07.
  29. ^ "Council Wise Party Position". election-results.ajk.gov.pk. Retrieved 2022-12-09.