MUZAFFARABAD: As was being widely believed, Chaudhry Yasir Sultan of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Chaudhry Amir Yasin of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) won the by-elections in LA-3, Mirpur-III and LA-12, Kotli-V by a clear majority, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results that poured in late on Sunday night.

In Mirpur city, 46-year old Yasir Sultan, who is the son of AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood, secured 20,142 votes, easily defeating his main rival Chaudhry Muhammad Saeed of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who bagged 11,608 votes.

In the general elections of July 25, Mr Saeed had lost to Mr Mahmood by less than 3,200 votes, but the margin of votes was more than 8,500 in Sunday’s by-election.

Among other candidates, Umair Asghar Chaudhry of TLP secured 3,843 votes and Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had bagged 1,450 votes.

None of the remaining eight candidates, mostly independents, could secure even 50 votes each.

In LA-12, Kotli-V, PPP’s Amir Yasin, who is son of senior PPP legislator Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin, was heading towards a smooth victory, as unofficial and unconfirmed results from 194 out of total 197 polling stations had given him a significant lead of 5,500 votes over his closest rival Chaudhry Shauqat Farid from the ruling PTI.

According to sources, 34-year old Amir Yasin secured 24,335 votes, followed by 18,835 by Mr Farid of PTI and 17,894 by Raja Riasat of PML-N.

Interestingly, in the general elections, Mr Yasin won by a lead of hardly 1,450 votes, while Mr Riasat of PML-N was first runner up with 20,080 votes and Mr Farid of PTI was the second runner up with 17,525 votes.

With the election of Mr Amir, he and his father would be the third father-son duo simultaneously holding the AJK Legislative Assembly membership.

Following the result of by-polls, PTI has 32 lawmakers in the 53-member house, PPP has 12, PML-N has seven and the Jammu Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) and Muslim Conference (MC) have one each lawmaker. The JKPP and MC are allies of the PTI.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021