The polling process started on Thursday at 8 am in 41 constituencies of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly simultaneously.
The polling, being held at 5,429 polling stations, will continue till 5 pm without any break, while the voters present in the premises of polling stations at the closing time will be allowed to cast their vote.
The total number of registered voters is 2,674,586 including 1,483,747 men and 1,190,839, while 23,394 polling staff including 4,462 presiding officers, 6,310 polling officers and 12,622 polling assistants are performing duties at the polling stations.
Special security arrangements have been made to ensure conduct of the election in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful manner.
As many as 427 candidates of different political parties and the independent ones are in the run for the elections.
AJK Election Commission, 328 contestants will contest from 29 constituencies of AJK’s nine districts while 99 will be competing from 12 constituencies of Kashmiri refugees, spreading over four provinces of Pakistan.
The highest number of candidates in the run is from AJK’s capital Muzaffarabad where 67 candidates are in the run for the six constituencies, which have a total of 429,276 votes, including 191,112 female votes.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Azad Kashmir President Raja Farooq Haider is contesting from LA-28, Muzaffarabad-V, where 12 other candidates are also in the run.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Azad Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry is in the run from LA-3, Mirpur-II, where seven candidates are contesting.
Presiding over a meeting General Officer commanding Jhelum Maj. Gen. Muhammad Chiragh Haider says foolproof security arrangements have been made on polling day.
Local police and army troops will work collectively to allow voters to cast their vote freely.
Officials said 17,000 army personnel, 4,000 Frontier Constabulary soldiers, 4,000 policemen from Punjab, 2,000 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some 5,200 from AJK have been deployed in the 29 constituencies.
Another 4,900 army personnel would be deployed in the 12 constituencies in Pakistan along with personnel of law enforcement agencies.
Fourteen constituencies in AJK have been declared either sensitive or most sensitive and, therefore, deployment of troops there will be higher than other constituencies.
Transportation of ballot papers begin today (Wednesday) under the protection of the army and police. Ballot papers to remote polling stations, such as those in Karachi, interior Sindh and southern Punjab, have been sent in army helicopters.
