As the second phase of voting for nine seats in Muzaffarabad division and 12 refugee seats ended around 6 pm on August 2, the relations between ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) became further strained. PPP, which is supporting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Islamabad from outside, has threatened to withdraw support to the PM because of widespread rigging in both the phases of polling so far, held on July 27 and August 2.
In the second phase of POJK polls, polling was held in eight out of the nine constituencies of Muzaffarabad division and all 12 refugee constituencies. Voting for one assembly segment was postponed as several roads got cut off due to heavy rains and landslides in many areas. PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari assailed the election authorities for this postponement saying the polling should have been postponed only in identified areas where communication was affected.
The polling began at 8AM and continued till 5PM for the refugee seats, while the process concluded at 6PM in Muzaffarabad after an hour’s extension.
PML-N leaders meet at Nawaz Sharif’s residence
Meanwhile, the PML-N leaders went into a huddle at at Jati Umra residence of Mian Nawaz Sharif, elder brother of the Prime Minister. According to a statement issued by his office, PM Shehbaz Sharif held consultations with his elder brother and PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif evolving political challenges, including the rift with the PPP over the POJK elections, according to a Dawn report.
The party leadership has taken serious note of the PPP chairman Bilawal’s increasingly combative rhetoric against the Sharif family over these polls. The PML-N has taken his warning that the PPP could reconsider its support for the Federal government.
According to the Election Commission, 207 candidates contested the nine constituencies in Muzaffarabad division, comprising five seats in Muzaffarabad district and two each in Neelum and Jhelum Valley districts. Another 137 candidates contested the 12 refugee constituencies, including six seats representing refugees from the Kashmir Valley and six from Jammu.
9 seats of Muzaffarabad, 12 refugee seats at stake
A total of 809,621 voters are registered in Muzaffarabad division, while the 12 refugee constituencies have a combined electorate of 438,834. It means the assembly segments in POJK have an average of 90,000 voters per segment while as those in 12 refugee seats average about 36,000 only. Of these, the assembly segments for the Kashmir valley have less than 10,000 voters each while the Jammu region’s assembly seats have many times that number, approximately 50,000 voters per segment.
Out of 12 refugee seats, seven seats are in Punjab, one seat is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one seat (Jammu-VI) is divided between Punjab, Islamabad and KP, one seat is divided between Sindh and Balochistan (Valley-I), and one seat (Jammu-I) is shared among refugees living in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh. Valley-V seat is divided between Punjab and Islamabad.
The electoral process in LA-27 (Muzaffarabad-I) was postponed due to heavy rain, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal said.
Over 300 candidates were in the fray for the Muzaffarabad seats and the 12 seats for refugees settled in different regions.
Serious allegations of rigging surface across seats
Meanwhile, in an eventful day, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari started from where he had left off in the first phase polling in Mirpur division and accused the PML-N of “robbing” votes in the second phase of polling as well. In a post on X, he condemned an attack on party’s regional president Chaudhry Latif Akbar, a candidate for LA-31 (Muzaffarabad-V).
Accusing “miscreant elements of the PML-N” of being behind the incident, Bilawal said PPP worker Mushtaq Shah was killed in the same constituency. “The PML-N is robbing the votes through bullets, batons and coercion,” he alleged.
The PPP chairman demanded that those responsible for the attack on Akbar and the “murderers” of the party worker be arrested immediately.
In another statement, Bilawal said, “The PML-N has crossed all limits. Attacks are taking place on our voters and the president of the state.” He remarked that in Muzaffarabad, the PPP’s “politics of dignity and principles was in contest with the PML-N’s threat, rigging and coercion”.
PPP files 25 complaints with Election Commission
PoJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore, who belongs to the PPP, has taken note of the incident and ordered highest officials to take action against those responsible for rigging. Rathore termed the attack on PPP voters and leaders “a slap on the politics of dignity and principle”.
Ahead of Sunday’s elections, internet services were restored in parts of Muzaffarabad division after remaining suspended for close to 60 days. Tt was not clear whether the restoration covered the entire division or was limited to the state capital only.
Several PPP leaders alleged electoral malpractices shortly after polling commenced, with several of the complaints claiming its polling agents were not allowed to observe the voting process. At 2PM, the party wrote an official letter to the Election Commission requesting follow-up on 25 complaints filed by it regarding 11 assembly constituencies.
The PML-N also wrote to the Election Commission in response to a PPP complaint terming the latter’s allegations against its candidates as “baseless”. In the letter, it asserted that the allegations were an attempt to create unnecessary controversy.
Ballot stuffing, bogus voting to favour PML-N alleged
The PPP has accused PML-N supporters of ballot stuffing, bogus voting and exclusion of its polling agents in several assembly segments. “The deliberate exclusion of the PPP’s oversight representative while PML-N’s own elected officials conduct fraud inside the station is not a coincidence. It is a coordinated strategy to commit electoral fraud without any independent witness,” it alleged.
At some polling stations, the PPP said “violent confrontation” between supporters of PML-N candidate Raja Farooq Haider and PPP supporters.
Earlier in the day, PML-N leader and Kashmir Affairs Minister Amir Muqam called on political parties not to indulge in a “blame game”. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he pointed out that law enforcement personnel were deployed to ensure security.
“They should not act in a manner that ‘why was I not given seats’,” Muqam said, stressing that it was the public whose votes allocate seats.
On the other hand, PPP leader Nadeem Afzal Chan also held a press conference where he said the Election Commission had failed to play its role in “proving” the election process to be free and fair. “It is an international issue … people’s eyes are on it,” he said, adding “tomorrow we will not be able to ratify this election under any circumstance”.
Ultra Form-47 elections taking place
He recalled that after the Mirpur polls, there was a detailed discussion within the party about boycotting the second and third phases. However, the party leadership refused the idea of a boycott. Chan cautioned that if the PPP was “compelled” to move towards such steps for the third phase, it would benefit those who wanted to prove the election “dirty”.
“I see this becoming an ultra Form-47 election,” he said. Form-47 manipulation means that those candidates who have lost are declared winners as the Returning Officers rig the elections in favour of a party. The PPP had alleged, time and again, that in February 2024 elections, the PML-N benefited from Form-47 manipulation. This was happening even now in the current elections, the party has said.
In attempts to defuse the tensions, senior leaders of both parties have met multiple times to “explore a legal resolution” to the dispute. The discussions focused on the PPP’s allegations and its demand for re-polling in certain constituencies.
“It was not planned or pre-planned rigging but isolated acts at places where supporters of PML-N candidates enjoyed numerical dominance over their PPP opponents. Such incidents have unfortunately been part of the territory’s polling atmosphere and have also been witnessed in previous elections,” some PML-N leaders reportedly told their counterparts.
