PML-N President Nawaz Sharif is personally interviewing candidates for the reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir assembly, as the party continues consultations on forming the next government in the territory (Dawn).
Eight reserved seats — five for women and three for technocrats — are to be filled by a vote of assembly members on August 24, with nomination papers due on August 20 and the final candidate list on August 23. Because members do the voting, the seats are distributed in proportion to party strength on the floor, which is why the disputed general seats matter beyond their own number.
The friction is now inside the ruling coalition rather than across it. The PPP is demanding transparent results and accusing the PML-N — its partner in Islamabad — of misusing state resources during the AJK elections.
That places two governing allies on opposite sides of an electoral dispute they must both live with. The PPP has alleged rigging since the first phase, with Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari saying the federal government’s “countdown has begun”. The PML-N has rejected the allegations and challenged the party to bring evidence to the election commission.
The tallies remain contested. Geo puts the PML-N on 25 seats and the PPP on 11; Dawn’s count after re-polling put the PPP on 12, the difference being LA-17 Haveli, where Form 27 declared PPP Prime Minister Faisal Mumtaz Rathore the winner by 1,518 votes. The AJK Election Commission has rejected two pleas against that result, holding the dispute is factual and requires evidence to be recorded — which points it towards an election tribunal.
Seven seats in Poonch and Sudhnoti remain unpolled, postponed on law-and-order grounds with no date announced.
Nawaz Sharif has struck a conciliatory note publicly, saying rivalry is normal in politics but should not become enmity, and calling the atmosphere in Azad Kashmir “a cause of concern for all of us”.
