AJK electoral rolls show voter count up by 583,839 since 2021 polls

MUZAFFARABAD: The number of registered voters in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has risen by 583,839 since the 2021 legislative assembly elections, according to fresh electoral rolls issued by the AJK Election Commission ahead of the next polls.

The latest rolls show a total electorate of 3,804,385 across the region’s 45 constituencies, compared with 3,220,546 voters recorded in the 2021 elections. Of the updated total, 3,365,839 voters are registered in the 33 constituencies within AJK, while 438,546 are registered in the 12 constituencies in Pakistan reserved for refugees from occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

In the 2021 elections, 2,817,090 voters were registered in the 33 territorial constituencies and 403,456 in the 12 refugee constituencies. Those refugee seats included 373,652 voters in six constituencies representing migrants from Jammu and 29,804 voters in six constituencies representing migrants from the Kashmir Valley.

Breakdown of increase

According to the fresh rolls, the 33 territorial constituencies recorded an increase of 548,749 voters, taking their combined electorate to 3,365,839. In the 12 refugee constituencies in Pakistan, the six Jammu refugee seats saw their voter total climb by 31,296 to 404,948, while the six Valley refugee seats added 3,794 voters, bringing their total to 33,598.

Figures released by the commission showed that the overall electorate consists of 2,001,730 male voters and 1,802,655 female voters.

Largest and smallest constituencies

Among the 33 territorial constituencies, LA-7 Bhimber-III has the largest electorate with 129,994 voters. It is followed by LA-31 Muzaffarabad-V with 128,177 voters and LA-12 Kotli-V with 126,332 voters. The smallest territorial constituency is LA-30 Muzaffarabad-IV, where the number of registered voters stands at 68,228.

The commission’s figures also show that among the 33 territorial seats, six constituencies have electorates between 120,000 and 130,000 voters, five fall between 110,000 and 120,000, and eight are in the range of 100,000 to 110,000. Another six constituencies have between 90,000 and 100,000 voters, three have between 80,000 and 90,000, four fall between 70,000 and 80,000, and one constituency has fewer than 70,000 voters.

Among the Jammu refugee constituencies, LA-37 Jammu-IV has the highest number of voters at 111,203, while LA-39 Jammu-VI has the lowest at 37,639. In the Valley refugee constituencies, LA-45 Valley-VI has the largest electorate with 7,681 voters, while LA-43 Valley-IV has the smallest with 3,346 voters.