Islamabad:Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party on Monday was poised to form the government in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir for the first time after it won 25 of 45 seats in the legislative assembly elections marred by deadly violence and allegations of irregularities by the Opposition, local media reported.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party (PTI) won 25 seats while Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came second with 11 seats and the incumbent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) secured just six seats, the state-run Radio Pakistan reported, citing unofficial results announced by the Election Commission.
Thus, PTI got a simple majority to form the government without support of any other party. It is for the first time that it will form a government in PoK.
Traditionally, the ruling party in the country wins the elections in Pok.
Muslim Conference (MC) and Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) won one seat each.
India has previously slammed Pakistan for its decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily occupied region has no legal basis.
Pakistan’s Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said PTI’s “resounding victory in elections is manifestation of the common man’s confidence in Prime Minister Imran Khan”.
In a tweet on Monday, he said the opposition parties should reconsider both their leadership and politics.
Pakistan’s Opposition leaders – PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz alleged that the PTI won the polls through rigging and rejected the results of the elections held on Sunday.
Bhutto claimed the election commission had failed to take action against the PTI for violating electoral rules.
“PTI resorted to violence & rigging, he said, adding that despite this, PPP emerged as largest opposition party with 11 seats, up from 3 seats last time. He also shared the list of the party’s winning candidates.
PML-N Vice President Maryam said that she has not accepted the results and will never accept them. “I did not accept the 2018 results either or acknowledge this fake government,” she tweeted.
She, however, praised the PML-N workers for “putting up a good fight” despite “violence and rigging by PTI” in the elections.
PPP’s vice-president Senator Sherry Rehman said, there is proof of systematic rigging in the election.
She said PTI workers attacked the PPP worker during polling time, while police had uprooted a camp belonging to her party. “There is a clear difference between the voter lists of several polling stations, she said.
PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a statement, claimed that to rig the election the PTI “goons” attacked her party’s workers in Gujranwala’s Alipur Chatha area.
“PTI has been allowed to engage in hooliganism with complete liberty,” she said.
However, the region’s Election Commission rejected the allegations and said that the polls were held in a fair and peaceful manner.
The chief election commission, Abdul Rashid Sulehria, told the media that he was satisfied with the election process.
The assembly has a total of 53 members but only 45 are directly elected, while five seats are reserved for women and three are meant for the technocrats.
The 45 members directly elected included 33 residents of PoK and 12 refugees’ who came over the years from Kashmir and settled in various cities of Pakistan.
