MUZAFFARABAD – The first phase of the 2026 Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly elections commenced on Monday, with thousands of government employees casting their ballots ahead of the general elections scheduled for July 27.
Around 30,000 government employees from eight districts are participating in the advance voting process for the elections to 26 of the 33 seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly.
Authorities have implemented stringent security measures to ensure a peaceful polling process. Police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel have been deployed at polling stations across the region.
District Returning Officers’ offices have been designated as polling stations for government employees. The votes cast during this phase will remain sealed and will be counted alongside the ballots cast on the main polling day.
Election officials said a total of 3,365,839 registered voters are eligible to vote in the July 27 elections, including 1,753,933 men and 1,611,906 women.
To review election preparations, AJK Chief Election Commissioner Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal visited several polling stations.
He also dismissed reports suggesting that the elections could be postponed, reaffirming that polling would take place as scheduled on July 27.
