MUZAFFARABAD — Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), retired Justice Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, met with Pakistan’s Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Monday to formalize a strategy for ensuring free and fair elections on the 12 legislative seats reserved for Kashmiris living in Pakistan. The meeting, held in Islamabad, aimed to address long-standing concerns regarding the transparency of the refugee constituencies, which fall outside the direct administrative jurisdiction of the AJK Election Commission.
آزاد کشمیر میں عام انتخابات کا شیڈول مئی میں جاری کرنے کا اعلان pic.twitter.com/Hf2z6OnFhB
— Geo News Urdu (@geonews_urdu) March 28, 2026
Key Highlights
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Strategic Collaboration: AJK Election Commission seeks full logistical and administrative support from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
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The Refugee Vote: Focus remains on 12 constituencies: six reserved for refugees from the Kashmir Valley and six for those from the Jammu region.
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Jurisdictional Challenges: Historically, these seats have faced scrutiny because the AJK commission relies on the ECP for polling staff and station security within Pakistan.
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Administrative Roadmap: Collaboration will include the preparation of electoral rolls, establishment of polling stations, and deployment of neutral staff.
]Bridging the Jurisdictional Gap
Of the 45 directly elected seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly, 12 are allocated to refugees settled across Pakistan. Because these voters reside in various provinces of Pakistan—predominantly Punjab and Sindh—the AJK Election Commission has limited ground-level control.
Justice Mughal emphasized that the transparency of these specific seats has often been questioned in the past. To mitigate this, he requested the ECP’s specialized assistance in establishing polling stations and ensuring that the electoral rolls are updated accurately to prevent double voting or “ghost” entries.
Coordination via Poonch House
The AJK CEC stated that the AJK Election Commission’s camp office at Poonch House, Rawalpindi, will serve as the primary nerve center for coordination with the ECP. This hub will facilitate:
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Timely Logistics: Ensuring polling materials reach all refugee constituencies across Pakistan.
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Staff Deployment: Utilizing the ECP’s provincial networks to assign non-partisan polling officers.
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Monitoring: Maintaining a direct line of communication to resolve disputes or irregularities in real-time.
چیف الیکشن کمشنر آزاد کشمیر کی چیف الیکشن کمشنر پاکستان سے ملاقات!#abnnews #breakingnews pic.twitter.com/ZENoLbQio6
— ABN NEWS (@abnnewspk) March 30, 2026
Assurance of Full Support
Responding to the request, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja assured the AJK delegation—which included Member Syed Nazeerul Hassan Gillani and Secretary Mohammad Shakeel Khan—that the ECP would extend “all possible assistance.” He reiterated that a transparent and organized electoral process for the refugee seats is vital for the credibility of the upcoming AJK general elections.
The ECP has previously played a supportive role in AJK elections, and this renewed commitment is expected to bolster public confidence in the electoral exercise among the diaspora Kashmiri community.
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