In a by-election held in Bagh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged victorious, securing the seat that got vacant after the disqualification of former premier Ilyas Tanveer in April.
Unofficial results confirmed that PPP’s candidate, Sardar Zia Qamar, garnered 25,755 votes, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate, Mushtaq Ahmed Minhas, became the first runner-up with 20,485 votes.
Minhas, a former journalist turned politician, gracefully conceded defeat and was pictured embracing and congratulating Qamar following the announcement of unofficial results.
PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took to Twitter to congratulate Qamar and express his gratitude to the people of Bagh for placing their faith in the party. He also highlighted that the victory in the Bagh by-election, following previous wins in Multan and Karachi, solidified their winning streak.
The third runner-up in the election was the candidate representing the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muhammad Zamir Khan, who secured 4,942 votes.
According to data from the election commission, a total of 52,671 votes were cast in the by-election, with 101,146 registered voters in the LA-15 Bagh-II constituency, including 48,038 women.
The election commission had established 189 polling stations, including 30 deemed sensitive and 20 considered most sensitive. To ensure law and order, approximately 2,500 police personnel and 350 paramilitary troops were deployed in the constituency. However, there were reports of violence at some polling stations, resulting in injuries to several individuals.
Some observers commented that the election appeared to be contested not only by political parties but also by clans, with parties appealing for votes based on clan affiliations rather than ideological grounds.
Meanwhile, PML-N lawmaker Hina Pervaiz Butt accused the PPP of rigging the election, sharing a video on Twitter showing a person claiming to have evidence of rigging by PPP members in Kashmir.
