Elections in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on July 25

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Election authorities in Pakistan-administered Kashmir announced on Thursday that state assembly elections will be held on July 25.

Chief Election Commissioner Abdul Rashid Sulehria told reporters in the capital Muzaffarabad that candidates for the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly can submit their nomination papers till June 21.

"Over 3.2 million eligible voters will cast their votes to elect 45 members," he said, adding that 12 seats are for Kashmiri refugees in various parts of Pakistan. The number of seats has been increased from 41 in 2016 to 45.

The 2016 polls were won by the then ruling party in Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N). It clinched 31 seats and formed the government. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party currently in power in Islamabad, won two seats only.

Traditionally, the party ruling Islamabad gets a majority of seats in Azad Kashmir.

Last November, the PTI won the elections in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, which was previously ruled by the PML-N and Pakistan People's Party during their federal tenures in 2009 and 2015, respectively.