PoK Election 2021: Assembly elections are being held in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The number of voters is more than 32 lakhs. PM Imran Khan has put his heel to the victory. He is getting tough competition from the opposition parties.
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
POK Election Update: Voting for the assembly elections in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is being held on Sunday. The number of voters here is more than 32 lakhs. Which will elect 45 members for a five-year term. These elections are being held to elect 45 representatives of the Legislative Assembly including 33 in PoK and 12 members for Kashmir migrants (Legislative Elections in PoK). Earlier, Pakistan had also conducted elections in Gilgit Baltistan, which India had strongly condemned. India had said that there is no legal basis to change any position in the occupied territories.
There are total 53 seats in the PoK assembly. But for 45 of these candidates are directly elected. While five seats are reserved for women and three are for technocrats (POK Election Explanation). The main contest in the elections is between Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). PTI has fielded leaders for elections in all 45 seats. While PML-N and PPP have issued tickets to candidates for 44 seats.
TLP rotting in 40 seats
The radical Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) was banned by the government of Pakistan in April for its violent activities (Election in POK by Pakistan). This party is contesting on 40 seats. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not remove the name of this party from the list, due to which it is able to contest the elections. In the elections, 33 members will be directly elected from 10 districts of PoK. While 12 seats will be given to Kashmiri refugees living in four provinces of Pakistan.
pakistan army deployed troops
Apart from the candidates contesting on the ticket of political parties, 261 independent candidates have also entered the fray. Keeping the security situation in mind, the Pakistan Army has deployed soldiers. Usually, the ruling party of the country also wins the election of PoK. Earlier in 2016 assembly elections were held in PoK. In which the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had won. According to a poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan, 44 per cent people are supporting PM Imran Khan’s party, while his rival party PML-N is getting support of 12 per cent voters.
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