MUZAFFARABAD: The Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) on Thursday announced candidates for 37 of the 45 constituencies of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, denying tickets to some veteran politicians while fielding a number of younger faces.
The list, carrying the signature of party president Nawaz Sharif, deferred decisions on five territorial constituencies LA-1 Mirpur-I (Dadyal), LA-8 Kotli-I (Raj Mahal), LA-18 Poonch-I (Abbaspur), LA-22 Poonch-V (Tain) and L A-28 Muzaffarabad-II (Lachhrat)as well as three refugee constituencies: LA-36 Jammu-III, LA-41 Valley-II and LA-45 Valley-VI.
PML-N AJK president and opposition leader Shah Ghulam Qadir was awarded tickets for both constituencies of Neelum Valley, while party secretary general Chaudhry Tariq Farooq was nominated from his traditional constituency, LA-7 Bhimber-III.
Former prime minister Raja Farooq Haider, who had contested the previous two elections from two constituencies, will this time contest only from his native LA-32 Muzaffarabad-VI. He filed his nomination papers in Hattian Bala on Friday.
Among the prominent figures denied tickets was Malik Mohammad Nawaz, who won seven consecutive elections between 1990 and 2016 on the ticket of the Muslim Conference (MC). The PML-N instead nominated young party leader Fateh Mahmoodul Hassan from LA-10 Kotli-III.
Former PML-N lawmaker Sardar Farooq Sikandar, eldest son of former AJK president and prime minister Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan, had also sought the ticket from LA-10 instead of his family’s traditional constituency, LA-9Kotli-II(Nakyal).
The party awarded the latter ticket to his young cousin, Sardar Umair Naeem, vice chairman of the District Council Kotli.
Mr Nawaz told Dawn that the denial of the ticket had pained him, but he would abide by the party’s decision because he believed in discipline.
Referring to Raj Mahal, where the party has yet to announce a candidate, he said: ‘If the party nominates me from there, I will contest and, God willing, win.
In Muzaffarabad’s Khawra constituency, elderly PML-N1eader and former minister Raja Abdul Qayyum Khan was denied a ticket, with the party instead nominating Raja Saqib Majeed, a recent entrant to its ranks.
In several other constituencies, younger candidates were awarded tickets, including Engr Mohsin Aziz from Haveli, AyazNisar fromKhuiratta and RajaMuhammad Asif from Sehnsa in Kotli district and Azeem Bakhsh Chaudhry from Chakswari in Mirpur district.
The PML-N also awarded tickets to two women candidates: senior parliamentarian Noreen Arif from LA-27 Muzaffarabad-I and young Maryam Javed from LA-37 Jammu-IV.
Ms Arif became the first woman to win a direct election from a territorial constituency in 2006 as an independent candidate. She again won the seat in 2016 on a PML-N ticket and has also served multiple terms in the assembly on a reserved seat since the mid-1980s.
Ms Javed’s father-in-law, Mian Rasheed, mother-inlaw, Shamim Akhtar, and brother-in-law, Yasir Rasheed, had all served as AJK Assembly members in the past.
Speaking to Dawn by telephone from Bhimber, PML-N secretary general said that the candidates from the remaining constituencies would be announced within a couple of days. The ruling PPP has yet to formally announce its candidates. However, Shaukat Javed Mir, spokesperson for Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq, told Dawn that the party leadership had finalised almost all nominees and authorised them to proceed with election preparations.