AJK Council polls held amid allegations of horse trading

PTI and MC enter into electoral alliance "to smash PPP-PML-N nexus" 

Amid allegations of horse-trading, the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Monday elected four members of the AJK Council, giving two seats to the ruling PPP and the rest to the divided opposition.

The polling was held in the MLA Hostel under the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. All but one of the 48 Legislative Assembly members (MLAs) took part in it.

While the opposition PML-N was on the ‘high moral ground’ as its all 11 MLAs voted for and got elected their nominee, Parvaiz Akhtar of Sudhnoti, the PPP appeared to be in a shock as at least 7 voters slipped from its ranks, including at least three cabinet members.

Both PPP candidates – Akhter Parvez Awan and Mohammad Younis Meer – got 11 votes each, but Mukhtar Ahmed Abbasi, the joint candidate of Muslim Conference (MC) and PTI, was the highest scorer with 14 votes.

The PTI has one and MC has 4 ‘declared’ votes in the 48-member house.

Shortly after the announcement of results, Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed removed rehabilitation minister Abdul Majid Khan and Mangla dam affairs minister Mohammad Hussain Sargala from cabinet with immediate effect for voting against the party discipline.

The ministers claimed that they had sent their resignations to the PM at 12:30pm “on the call of their conscience.”

“The MC and PTI have set the worst examples of horse-trading,” alleged Mr Majeed at a press conference, questioning that how the parties with total 5 votes could bag 14.

Flanked by some cabinet members, the AJK premier said he would soon track down the remaining treasury members who had voted in favour of Mr Abbasi.

“We will file references against the defectors, but in the meanwhile the Chief Election Commissioner should also take stock of it and suspend the membership of all those who resorted to floor crossing,” he said.

“The horse trading is condemnable and I am afraid it will send a negative message across the Line of Control from the base camp of freedom struggle,” he added.

Sources close to Mr Majeed confided to this scribe that he believed that some “hidden forces” (a reference to intelligence agencies) had persuaded such a good number of legislators to vote for the MC-PTI joint candidate.

However, when this scribe put this question to him at the presser, he said: “It was just the money that bought loyalties.”

The PPP leaders however appreciated the PML-N for discouraging horse-trading.

However, at their press conference, the PML-N leaders made scathing criticism of the PPP as well as the MC, PTI and their “facilitators.”

“It’s a food for thought for the Kashmiri nation that how an alliance with 5 votes has secured 14 votes,” said PML-N president Raja Farooq Haider.

He said, of the four Council members, only Parvaiz Akhtar of PML-N and Akhter Parvez Awan of PPP were genuine political activists while the other two had purchased not only the party tickets but also the votes.

“At least Rs 350 to 400 million have been invested in this election, something we had long been expressing apprehensions about,” he said, adding, those who had sold their conscience were worst than the ‘prostitutes.’

In response to a question, Mr Haider said not only money but also the “hidden forces” had facilitated the victory of MC-PTI joint candidate.

“If the ministers who voted for Mr Abbasi have a pang of conscience they should step down,” he said.

The PML-N senior vice president Chaudhry Tariq Farooq pointed out that since the ruling party had bagged only 22 votes, it had lost simple majority in the 48-member house.

However, a spokesman for the government said this voting was not a measure to determine the trust of house enjoyed by the government.

MC-PTI ALLIANCE

Earlier, while the polling was in progress, PTI president Barrister Sultan Mahmood and MC president Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan announced at a joint press conference that they had agreed to form a formal alliance for the upcoming polls.

Fielding a joint candidate for the Council elections was a first step towards that alliance, they said.

However, when they were asked that how could they get their nominee elected when they had only 5 votes, both leaders smartly responded that they would “recover their stolen legislators from PPP and PML-N.”

Mr Mahmood and Mr Ahmed also named five members each from their sides to prepare recommendations for the alliance within ten days, “following which its nitty-gritty would be taken care of.”

In response to question, the MC chief, who has always been critical of ‘ghair riyasti’ (non Kashmir based) political parties, said: “PTI is different. Here decisions are made by Barrister Sahib, in contrast to the PML-N where the employees of the federal government rule the roost.”

Tariq Naqash