The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), coalition partners in the federal government, lobbed rigging allegations at each other as a party worker’s death marred the elections for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly.
The PPP alleged that a party worker was killed in Kotli, with condemnations following from party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
Bilawal condemned the killing of party worker Mukhtar Younus, saying he had been informed that the worker was shot by supporters of PML-N candidate Sardar Umair Naeem. “My worker has been martyred in Mirpur Nikyal. Where are the authorities? What is the Election Commission doing?” he said.
Sindh Local Governments Minister Saeed Ghani accused the PML-N of being behind the killing, alleging that the shooting was the result of an election campaign marred by code of conduct violations and attempts to influence voters.
“The way this election campaign was conducted, the result is that bullets are being fired today,” Ghani said. “Our workers are dying.”
Polling for the first phase of the AJK Legislative Assembly elections concluded at 6pm in 13 constituencies across Mirpur Division on Monday.
The elections are being held in three phases under a revised schedule announced by AJK Chief Election Commissioner Ghulam Mustafa Mughal on July 21.
The first phase covers all 13 constituencies in Mirpur Division, while polling in Muzaffarabad Division and the 12 refugee constituencies will be held on Aug.2, followed by Poonch (Rawalakot) Division on Aug.10.
Witnesses said turnout in Mirpur district, the first area to vote, appeared low in the summer heat on Monday afternoon. Some candidates complained internet restrictions imposed during the protests and ensuing deadly clashes had hampered their campaigns.
Around 3.8 million residents in the region were eligible to vote in an election seen as a test of security after weeks of clashes between police and protesters. The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) protest movement has demanded the abolishment of 12 seats in the local legislature reserved for those who left what is now the India-administered portion of Kashmir.
JAAC supporters have called on residents to boycott the vote and say the seats are used by major Pakistani political parties to tip the composition of the local parliament in their favour with those who mostly reside outside the region.
The local government banned JAAC under anti-terrorism laws in June, sparking a new wave of demonstrations and clashes that killed dozens with hundreds arrested.
POLITICAL TEST
The vote will also be watched closely as an indicator of the performance of Pakistan's major political parties around halfway through the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) party's five-year term.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, brother of the sitting premier, visited the regional capital Muzaffarabad last week to campaign for PMLN, trading jabs with rival Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The former foreign minister and son of assassinated premier Benazir Bhutto has called for internet services to be restored, saying the blackout has severely disrupted his party's campaign.
The Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party of popular jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, meanwhile, is also boycotting the election.
"With protests continuing, arrests, police raids, criminal cases against political workers and a weeks-long internet shutdown, this is not an environment in which political parties should be asking people for votes," said Khawaja Farooq Ahmed, a senior PTI leader.
Agence France-Presse