Polling for two constituencies of the Legislative Assembly of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) LA XLV, Kashmir Valley-VI, and LA-XXXIX, Jammu Valley-VI, continued peacefully in Peshawar on Sunday.
The polling was started at 8am and since morning, Kashmiri voters, including male and female, started arriving at polling stations in large numbers to exercise their right of franchise.
Long queues of voters were observed at Shaheed Osama Zafar Government High School No 2 polling station in Peshawar city besides a number of others polling stations.
Kashmiris living in 21 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are voting for LA-XLV, Kashmir Valley-VI, seat, where a close contest is expected among Ahmad Shahid Mushtaq (Independent), Abdul Majid Khan (PTI), Abdul Nasir Khan (Independent) and Noorul Bari (JI).
The candidates visited Shaheed Osma Zafar Government High School polling station and expressed satisfaction over election and security arrangements.
Special Assistant to the Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for Information Kamran Bangash visited an election camp to review security arrangements and urged Kashmiri voters to come in large numbers to cast their votes.
Talking to people, he said Peshawar was like a bouquet of flowers where people of all parts of the country, including Kashmiris, were playing their role in its development. Bangash said no one would be allowed to disrupt the smooth polling process, adding that all political forces were united to thwart nefarious designs of inimical forces.
In Mardan district, Kashmiri voters were casting votes at two polling stations set up at Government Girls High School College Chowk.
Similarly, in Bannu district, polling continued at Government Degree College No 2 Bannu, where a booth for both constituencies was set up.
Kashmiris settled in Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, South Waziristan, Swat and other areas were also exercising their right of franchise for LA-XLV, Kashmir Valley-XI, in a free and transparent manner.
The total registered voters in the constituency were 6,951-including 3,860 male and 3,091 female-for whom 41 polling stations, including seven for males, nine for females and 25 combined, were set up.
Likewise, 64 polling booths were established, including 29 for males, 32 for females and three combined.
As many as 41 presiding officers were supervising the polling process with the assistance of polling officers and assistant returning officers.
LA-XXXIX, Jammu-VI, seat consists of 23 districts of two provinces, including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Peshawar, Nowshera, Mardan, Kohat, Buner, Charsadda, Karak, Kohistan, Mohmand, Abbottabad, Haripur, Mansehra, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Swat, Swabi, Upper Dir and Chitral.
A total of 13 candidates were in the run for winning the constituency seat, including Chaudhary Fakhar Zaman (PPP), Nazia Niaz (PTI) and Raja Sadeeq (PML-N) and a tough contest is expected.
The law enforcement agencies and police were deployed outside the polling stations and no arms, ammunition and mobile phones were allowed inside polling stations.
‘KASHMIRIS TO MAKE HISTORY BY REPOSING TRUST IN PTI’:
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan said that Kashmiris would make history by reposing full confidence in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Inasf (PTI) in AJK elections.
In a statement, he said that the PTI government had launched a record number of mega development projects to reciprocate the confidence and trust shown by people in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan in the 2018 elections.
He said that both the province and the country had been put on the path of progress and prosperity through development projects and public welfare policies.
