The PPP party wins the other four seats in the region, which includes the areas of Mirpur, Kotli, and Chaksawari.
By Mahnoor | 27-06-2026
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won nine of the 13 seats in the first part of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly elections in Mirpur Division, based on unofficial results. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) got the other four seats. The area includes Mirpur, Kotli, and Chaksawari districts.
Voting happened on Monday from 8am to 6pm in 13 areas, after the Election Commission added one hour to the original 5pm closing time.
The election happens in three rounds, as announced by the top election official Ghulam Mustafa Mughal on July 21. First round covered all 13 voting areas in Mirpur region. Voting in Muzaffarabad region and 12 refugee areas will be on August 2, and in Poonch (Rawalakot) region on August 10.
Early results show PML-N’s Azhar Sadiq won LA-1 Mirpur-I with 15,427 votes, beating PPP’s Muhammad Afsar Shahid who got 9,832 votes. PPP’s Qasim Majeed won LA-2 Chaksawari with 12,904 votes, while PML-N’s Azeem Bakhsh Chaudhry got 8,182 votes.
In Mirpur’s LA-3 district, PPP’s Yasir Sultan won with 11,676 votes, beating PML-N’s Muhammad Saeed, who got 9,832 votes. In Mirpur’s LA-4 district, PML-N’s Rukhsar Ahmed won with 20,172 votes, defeating PPP’s Sohaib Arshad, who got 13,865 votes.
In Bhimber’s LA-5 district, PML-N’s Waqar Ahmad Noor won with 30,259 votes, narrowly beating PPP’s Pervez Ashraf, who got 29,574 votes. PML-N also won Bhimber’s LA-7 district, where Tariq Farooq got 35,490 votes, and independent candidate Anwarul Haq came second with 25,100 votes.
In area LA-8 Kotli-I, PPP’s Zafar Iqbal Malik won with 19,535 votes. He beat PML-N’s Malik Muhammad Nawaz Khan, who got 11,966 votes. PML-N’s Umair Naeem won LA-9 Kotli-II with 31,080 votes. He was ahead of PPP’s Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, who got 28,509 votes.
PPP kept LA-10 Kotli-III. There, Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin won with 12,431 votes. PML-N’s Fatah Mehmood-ul-Hassan got 9,245 votes. In LA-11 Kotli-IV, PML-N’s Muhammad Asif won with 26,190 votes. He beat PPP’s Chaudhry Muhammad Akhlaq, who got 21,751 votes.
The PML-N also won LA-12 Kotli-V, where Muhammad Riasat Khan got 35,168 votes, and PPP’s Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin got 30,320 votes. In LA-13 Kotli-VI, PML-N’s Raja Ayaz Ahmad Khan won with 21,856 votes, beating Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s Nisar Ansar Abdali, who got 15,859 votes.
Results for LA-6 Bhimber-II were not finished when we reported. With 100 out of 195 polling stations counted, PML-N’s Chaudhry Muhammad Razaq was ahead with 21,210 votes, followed by Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party’s Ali Shan Chaudhry with 11,354 votes.
Voter turnout was lower than in the last AJK election, with fewer people voting across the division.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said the results show public trust in PML-N’s leadership, and that the party’s performance shows support for Nawaz Sharif and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s plan for developing Azad Kashmir.
Reacting to the result, PML-N leader and Punjab Senior Minister Maryam Aurangzeb said on X that the people of Mirpur had already shown their support for the party during former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s visit on July 24.
She said Monday’s vote had officially confirmed that decision, adding that Muzaffarabad had also given its verdict on July 21 and expressed confidence that voters in the remaining areas would back PML-N in the next round of voting on August 2.
Elections happened while people said they were cheating
Even with strong security, election day was marred by occasional violence. The PML-N and PPP, who are partners in the government, accused each other of interfering in the election all day.
The PML-N first complained in Kotli’s LA-10 area after party leaders said polling staff and election materials were found at a private home instead of the official polling place. The Election Commission later said it arrested and suspended two polling officers for this, replaced them with new ones, and started legal action under election laws.
The PPP kept accusing the federal government and the PML-N of using state tools to affect the election. They said armed supporters tried to stop voting at several polling places and asked the Election Commission to step in. The party also complained that voting at one station in Kotli was stopped for almost two hours, stopping people from voting.
Things got worse in LA-9 Kotli-II (Nikyal), where PPP worker Mukhtar Younus was at a polling place during voting. The PPP said he was shot when armed supporters of a PML-N candidate attacked, but PML-N leaders disagreed with the PPP’s story. Local authorities said one person died and two others, including the victim’s father, were hurt.
As the accusations grew, top leaders from both parties clashed. The PPP accused the federal government of interfering in the elections by announcing development projects and misusing official resources, while PML-N said the PPP was trying to cheat, claiming ballot papers were found at a rival candidate’s home.
The Election Commission said all day that it would take strong action against anyone breaking the election rules, and would not allow misconduct or mistakes. Despite the disputes, voting finished after a one-hour extension, then vote counting started.
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