PML-N has surged ahead in Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s phased assembly elections despite boycott calls and protests. The early result signals strong voter participation and a likely regional comeback for Nawaz Sharif’s party.

Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) has taken a clear lead in elections to the legislative assembly in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, according to results from the first two phases of voting announced on Wednesday. The lead comes despite weeks of protests and boycott calls by the banned Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC).

Candidates backed by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have won 24 of the 34 seats decided so far, election commission spokesman Raja Shakeel said. Voting for the remaining 11 seats is scheduled for August 10, but the party is already on course to form the next regional government, marking its return to power in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after a decade.

Shakeel said the elections are being held in three phases because of security concerns and heavy monsoon rains, which have affected campaigning and made large outdoor rallies difficult. He said turnout in the regional capital was more than 56 per cent.

Regional government and election officials said voter turnout crossed 50 per cent in many areas, including Muzaffarabad, despite security concerns and calls for a boycott by the outlawed JAAC. The group has led weeks of protests and had urged residents not to vote.

The regional government recently banned the JAAC, citing security and public-order concerns. Supporters of the group repeatedly clashed with police before Sunday’s vote, though residents said they exercised their right to vote despite fears of violence. Analysts said the election showed public confidence in the democratic process, with people turning out despite the protests, violence and boycott campaign.

The dispute has centred on 12 seats reserved for people displaced from Indian-controlled Kashmir since the end of British colonial rule. The JAAC says these seats give disproportionate political influence to people living outside Pakistan-administered Kashmir and has demanded that they be abolished.

The issue sharpened in June when the region’s Supreme Court ruled that the seats are protected under the constitution and cannot be removed without a constitutional amendment. The seats were created to ensure representation for displaced people from Indian-controlled Kashmir who settled elsewhere in Pakistan because Pakistan-administered Kashmir did not have the capacity to accommodate them. Many have lived in Pakistan for decades, while others later moved to Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Authorities have often accused JAAC supporters of trying to disrupt the election and alleged that members of the Pakistani Taliban had infiltrated the protests. The JAAC has not responded to the allegations. The group, formed in 2023, is seeking greater political rights for the people of Kashmir, while the government says it has accepted 36 of its 38 demands and that the issue of reserved seats can only be resolved by the assembly.

Sharif congratulated the winning candidates in a statement. Pakistan and India each administer part of Kashmir but claim the Himalayan region in full, and the two countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since independence from Britain in 1947. With one phase of voting still to be held, the early results have put the PML-N in a strong position to form the next government in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

With PTI Inputs