PML-N announces tickets for 7 reserved AJK seats

Muzaffarabad, Pakistan - The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) recently unveiled its lineup of candidates for seven of the eight reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, set to be held on August 24. Among these special seats are five designated for women and one each for Ulema-i-Din or Mashaikh, Jammu and Kashmir state subjects living abroad, and technocrats and professionals.

With the direct elections for the 38 territorial constituencies already underway, the PML-N has secured 25 seats so far, while the PPP has claimed 12. In addition, the lone MLA-elect from the Awami Dast-o-Bazu party has joined the PML-N alliance, bringing its total to 26 seats. On Wednesday, the PML-N assigned Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gillani to the technocrats and professionals seat, Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Arain for the overseas Kashmiris' seat, and Pir Mazhar Saeed Shah for the religious scholars' seat.

Gillani, who previously served as education minister, lost the 2022 general election to the PPP's Mukhtar Ahmed Abbasi by approximately 3,000 votes. Arain, a former member of the party's high-profile political committee, is the president of the PML-N's UK chapter and is running from Muzaffarabad city. Shah, who also held a reserved seat in the previous assembly, is a member of the All Jammu Kashmir Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam party.

The PML-N is confident of securing all three of these seats. For the women's seats, the party has awarded tickets to Sehrish Qamar, Maryam Zaman, Maryam Idrees, and Riffat Abid. Qamar, a former assembly member, is chairperson of the PML-N Women's Wing; Zaman, the president; Idrees, from Chakswari; and Abid, the mother of an MLA-elect.

While the PML-N may secure all four women's seats, they have decided to contest only three, leaving the remaining two to the PPP. The PPP has yet to announce its candidates for the two women's seats.