ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif has nominated Dr Muhammad Najeeb Naqi as the party’s candidate for the presidency of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced the nomination in a post on X on Wednesday, saying Nawaz Sharif had chosen Dr Naqi for the constitutional office.
She said Dr Naqi had been asked to file his nomination papers for the presidential election and congratulated him on behalf of the PML-N, wishing him success.
The AJK Election Commission has scheduled the presidential election for September 24.
The office has been vacant since the death of former president Barrister Sultan Mahmood in January. Following his death, then Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar served as acting president. He was later succeeded in the role by Speaker Chaudhry Tariq Farooq after the latter was elected speaker on August 25.
According to the election schedule announced by AJK Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal, candidates will submit their nomination papers to the returning officer on September 19 between 10am and noon. Scrutiny of the papers will also take place the same day.
Candidates will have until 11:30am on September 23 to withdraw their nominations.
Polling will be conducted at the AJK Legislative Assembly Secretariat on September 24 from 10am to 1pm. The votes will be counted and the result announced on the same day.
Justice (retd) Mughal said the president would be elected through a majority vote.
Senior Member of the Election Commission Khawaja Muhammad Ahsan and Election Commission Member Syed Nazir-ul-Hassan Gilani were also present during the briefing.
