At least one person was killed and several others injured during violent clashes on Monday on the polling day of the first phase of elections for the so-called legislative assembly in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India has maintained that Pakistan has been in illegal possession of the Indian Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
In another incident, a video surfaced showing armed people stealing ballot boxes from a polling booth in Samahni area of PoJK. The incident surfaced during phase-1 of voting in PoJK for 13 constituencies of Mirpur Division.
Meanwhile, firing and clashes were witnessed near Ramloha polling station area in Samahni constituency as people alleged that polling staff were being held hostage. Reports of bogus voting, rigging under threat of weapons has also been reported.
Reports also surfaced from PoJK that Pakistan forces opened firing on protesters in Rawalakot during a march call to Muzaffarabad by JKJAAC.
The elections, originally scheduled for July 27, are being held in three phases from July 27 to August 10. There are 53 seats in the so-called assembly of PoK – 45 are directly elected, while eight seats are reserved for women, technocrats and clerics.
Both the PPP and PML-N accused each other of rigging in multiple constituencies.
The electoral process was also briefly interrupted at some polling stations following scuffles and heated exchanges between supporters of rival political parties.
While Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has boycotted the polls, the Joint Awami Action Committee has been banned.
According to Khan’s party, over 100 people were killed during violent clashes in PoK following last month’s JAAC protests that paralysed life in the region for some 50 days.
The JAAC’s main demand was the abolition of the 12 refugee seats. The government, however, refused to accept its demand.
Dozens of people, including security men, were killed in the violence, following which the government last month banned the JAAC.
India described the protests in PoK as a “direct consequence” of Islamabad’s decades-long “systemic exploitation and administrative oppression” in areas under its “forcible” occupation and criticised reported police brutality on the protesters.
With inputs from PTI