Voting Underway in AJK’s Third Election Phase Amid Tight Security, Rigging Claims Polling opened at 8am today in four constituencies of Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch Division, covering the Bagh and Haveli districts, as the third phase of the region’s staggered elections gets underway. Voting will run until 5pm. Heavy Security Deployment Authorities are bracing for potential unrest. The Election Commission has flagged most of the 803 polling stations across the four constituencies as sensitive or highly sensitive, and has moved in reinforcements to match. Election Commission Secretary Raja Mohammad Shakeel said more than 10,000 additional troops have been deployed alongside local police from both districts to keep order and give voters a secure environment to cast their ballots. Where Things Stand AJK’s elections are being held in stages, and tensions between demonstrators and officials have shadowed the process throughout. The first two phases — in Mirpur and Muzaffarabad divisions — took place on July 27 and August 2. The PML-N has come out ahead so far with 24 seats, while the PPP trails with 10. Today’s round was originally supposed to cover all 11 constituencies of Poonch Division, but the Election Commission scaled it back last week to just Bagh and Haveli, citing law-and-order concerns. The remaining seven constituencies — five in Poonch district and two in Sudhnoti — may go to the polls around August 20 or 21. Rigging Allegations Fly Again As in earlier phases, the PPP and PML-N — rivals in AJK despite being coalition partners at the federal level — have traded accusations. The PPP has posted a string of complaints on X alleging misconduct in Bagh and Haveli, including: Roads blocked near Banni Marasira, allegedly to stop voters and monitors from reaching polling stations where PML-N supporters were accused of illegally stamping ballots Delayed voting at several stations due to late-arriving staff PPP polling agents forcibly removed from multiple stations, allegedly allowing unsupervised ballot stamping Agents blocked from stations in Kahuta City by PML-N workers The Election Commission confirmed it had received complaints against two presiding officers accused of manipulating results and said both had been pulled from election duty. Key Races to Watch Roughly 460,000 voters are registered across the four constituencies, choosing among 82 candidates for 803 polling stations. Three heavyweight names are on the ballot: AJK Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore (PPP) is defending his seat in LA-17 against PML-N’s Mohsin Aziz and independent Khawaja Tariq Saeed — a former ally turned rival after a falling-out over a seat-sharing agreement. Former PM Sardar Tanveer Ilyas is contesting LA-15 after briefly threatening to boycott the phase. He faces PML-N’s Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas, PPP’s Sardar Ziaul Qamar, and Jamaat-i-Islami’s Dr Mohammad Khan. Former PM Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan, longtime leader of the Muslim Conference, faces a serious challenge in LA-14 from Sajid Iqbal Abbasi, a self-funded philanthropist-turned-candidate from the same tribe as Attique. In LA-16, former ministers Sardar Mir Akbar (PML-N) and Sardar Qamar Zaman (PPP) are the main contenders. Results from this phase are expected to shape the balance of power as PML-N looks to consolidate its lead heading into the final rounds of voting.