The contest for Azad Jammu and Kashmir is heating up. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has established dominance over the Muzaffarabad Division and the refugee constituencies. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) continues to hold sway over some highly competitive seats. Unofficial results are coming in thick and fast, and the political landscape of AJK is beginning to take shape.

The early results indicate PML-N’s electoral strength as the party is leading in five constituencies of Muzaffarabad Division. PML-N’s Dr Mustafa Bashir was comfortably ahead of PPP’s Mubashir Munir Awan in LA-30 Muzaffarabad. Similarly, Saqib Majeed won by a huge margin in LA-31 Muzaffarabad Khawra adding to the party's momentum.

But PPP staged a strong comeback and was leading in LA-28 Lachrat and LA-29 Muzaffarabad City while Bazal Naqvi and Mukhtar Abbasi were leading in closely watched contests, respectively. These wins have kept the party in the race despite the wider gains by the PML-N.

The PML-N continued its strong show in the Neelum Valley constituencies. Veteran leader Shah Ghulam Qadir established commanding leads in both LA-25 Neelum Valley-I and LA-26 Neelum Valley-II, while former AJK Prime Minister Farooq Haider also moved ahead in LA-32.

The biggest story of the night was in the refugee constituencies where the PML-N was ruling the roost. The party bagged LA-35, LA-36 and LA-37 with Chaudhry Muhammad Ismail, Muhammad Ahsan Raza and Maryam Javed winning outright victories. It also enjoyed commanding leads in some remaining seats of Jammu and Kashmir Valley to further strengthen its overall position.

But the PPP scored big wins in LA-40 Kashmir Valley-I and LA-45 Kashmir Valley-VI, preventing a clean sweep by PML-N and making the electoral contest competitive.

Final picture is yet to emerge as vote counting is still on in several constituencies. But the recent trends are pretty clear that PML-N is heading towards a landslide victory, and PPP is still determined to contest wherever the margins are thin.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)