The Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir ordered the three-phase election in the mountainous region, which is being held after at least a 31-year hiatus.[8] Part of the reason for this is that the federal government was unable to fulfil its responsibility to provide additional security personnel. Since the previous Local government (LG) elections in AJK were held in 1991 and the subsequent polls started to be scheduled in 1995, each government has been managing the LG institutions through the use of "administrators," who can either be government employees or party members.
The subject of LG elections had been pending in the AJK's superior courts since the beginning of the previous PML-N administration. The AJK Supreme Court had ordered the government to make preparations for LG elections by August 2022 in light of the 2017 census in December of last year after protracted legal proceedings.
On the government's request, the AJK Supreme Court reviewed the deadline in July 2022 and ordered that LG elections be held by October 15, 2022. The electoral commission then set the polling date for September 28. After then, the PPP and PML-N requested yet another extension, this time until March 2023, but the Supreme Court rejected their motion and extended the deadline to November 30 instead. The phase-wise election was announced for Muzaffarabad, Poonch, and Mirpur divisions on Nov 27, Dec 3, and Dec 8, respectively, even though the commission had set Nov 27 for voting throughout AJK due to Islamabad's refusal to provide an additional 40,000 personnel.[9]
1,323 polling places will be staffed by around 4,500 police officers, while a Quick Response Force (QRF) made up of 500 police officers will be on alert in the background to handle any emergencies. The divisional commissioners dispelled the notion that security measures were minimal by stating that the entire division had been split into 11 zones, 130 sectors, and 64 QRF points, each of which would be overseen by senior police and administration officials who had been given first-class magistrate authority.[11]
↑ Successful candidates list, in AJK local government election 2022 (4 December 2022). "AJK Election Commission"(PDF). AJK Election Commission. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
↑ Successful candidates list of, Municipal Corporation (4 December 2022). "AJK Election Commission"(PDF). Election Commission of AJK. Archived from the original on 4 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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