AJK Election: PML-N Has 24 Seats, 4 More Vote Today

The third and final phase of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly election is voting today, Monday 10 August 2026. Polling opened at 8am and closes at 5pm.

Only four constituencies are voting, three in Bagh district and one in Haveli. The AJK chief election commissioner put the number of registered voters in them at around 460,000.

After the first two phases, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz holds 24 of the 45 general seats and the Pakistan Peoples Party holds 10. Those figures are unofficial. Seven more seats have been postponed and have no new date.

PML-N 24, PPP 10, with 11 seats still out

The election was split into three phases. Here is where the seats have gone.

Phase two was the big one. It covered nine seats in Muzaffarabad division and all 12 seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees settled in Pakistan. PML-N took 15 of those 21.

On 8 August, Rana Sanaullah, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs, said his party needed six more seats for a two-thirds majority. That tells you PML-N already considers a simple majority settled.

Seven seats are not voting today

The original plan for phase three covered 11 seats across four districts of Poonch division. On Friday 7 August, two days before polling, the AJK Election Commission cut it to four.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Ghulam Mustafa Mughal. The commission cited a report from the AJK Home Secretary warning that law and order in Rawalakot and Sudhnoti could undermine a free and peaceful vote. One further seat was postponed after a candidate died.

Reports differ on exactly how the seven break down. One account gives five seats in Poonch district and two in Sudhnoti. Another gives all six constituencies of Rawalakot and Sudhnoti, plus one more. The total of seven is consistent either way, and we are not going to pick between them.

The chief election commissioner has said a polling date for Rawalakot can be announced once the sit-ins are resolved.

Weather is a live factor in that decision too. Bagh, Muzaffarabad, Hattian Bala, Bhimber, Rawalakot, Pallandri and Kotli were all named in this month's flood warnings, which we listed in our piece on the districts placed on flood alert.

The 12 refugee seats are what the protests are about

To understand why an election needed three phases and armed security, you need the seat that nobody in AJK votes for.

The AJK Legislative Assembly has 53 seats. Only 33 are elected by people living in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Twelve are reserved for Kashmiri refugees who moved to Pakistan after 1947 and 1965 and now live in cities across the country. The remaining eight are reserved seats, filled after the general results: five for women, one for a religious scholar, one for a technocrat and one for overseas Kashmiris.

The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee wants the 12 refugee seats abolished. Its argument is that voters living in Punjab and Sindh decide a quarter of an assembly that governs AJK, which lets Pakistan-based parties shape the territory's government and its development spending.

On 7 June 2026, the AJK Supreme Court answered a presidential reference on the question. It held that the 12 seats sit in Article 22(1)(a)(ii) and (iii) of the AJK Constitution and can be altered, reduced or abolished only by a constitutional amendment passed under Article 33. In plain terms, a protest cannot remove them and neither can the government on its own. Only the assembly can, by amending its own constitution.

Note that this was the AJK Supreme Court, not the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and it was an advisory opinion on a reference rather than a judgment in a case. Several reports have blurred the two. At least 11 people were killed in clashes with police on the same day.

There is no AJK Election Commission website

We went looking for an official place to check results, the way we would for any other portal. We could not find one.

Tested by direct request on 10 August 2026:

That last row matters. The Election Commission of Pakistan does not run AJK elections. AJK has its own election commission. If you go to ecp.gov.pk looking for AJK results, you will find nothing, and that is not a fault in the site.

The gap is why a privately run results page is currently ranking well on these searches. We are not linking to it. Treat any results you see there as unofficial until the AJK Election Commission notifies them, which it does through the press and the government portal.

If you want to check your own vote registration inside Pakistan, that is a different and working system, and we have walked through it in our guide to checking voter registration by SMS to 8300. It does not cover AJK constituencies.

What happens after today

1. Counting starts at 5pm and unofficial results for the four seats follow the same evening.
2. The commission notifies official results separately, which is the step that actually seats a member.
3. The eight reserved seats are filled once the general seats are settled, and they follow party strength.
4. The assembly elects a prime minister once it meets. No name has been confirmed.
5. Rawalakot and Sudhnoti still have to vote. Until they do, no final total exists.

PML-N has also said it will not give cabinet posts to members elected on the refugee seats. That is a direct answer to the protest movement, and it costs the party nothing in votes.

What is confirmed and what is not

Confirmed: polling is under way today in four constituencies in Bagh and Haveli. Seven seats are postponed. The AJK Supreme Court ruling of 7 June stands.

Unofficial: every seat count in this article. Phase one and phase two results have been reported as unofficial and provisional, and they can be revised.

Contested: the PPP has alleged rigging and violence in both completed phases. Its chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on 3 August that the polls were neither free nor fair. PML-N rejects that and has asked the PPP to put evidence before the election commission. We are reporting that both positions exist, not settling it.

Not known: who will be AJK's next prime minister, and when Rawalakot and Sudhnoti will vote.

We check government portals as a matter of routine, and publish what actually loads. The wider set is in our piece on testing Pakistani government websites.

Questions readers are asking

When is the AJK election result announced?

Unofficial results for the four seats voting on 10 August are expected the same evening, after polls close at 5pm. Official notification by the AJK Election Commission comes later.

How many seats does PML-N have in AJK?

Twenty-four of the 45 general seats after two phases, on unofficial results. Four more seats voted on 10 August and seven are postponed, so this is not a final figure.

Why were some AJK seats postponed?

The AJK Election Commission postponed polling in Rawalakot and Sudhnoti on 7 August, citing a Home Secretary report on law and order. One extra seat was postponed after a candidate died.

What are the 12 refugee seats in the AJK assembly?

Seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees who settled in Pakistan after 1947 and 1965. Six represent Jammu division refugees and six the Kashmir Valley. Voters in AJK do not elect them.

Can the refugee seats be abolished?

Only by a constitutional amendment under Article 33 of the AJK Constitution, according to the AJK Supreme Court's advisory opinion of 7 June 2026. That means the assembly has to do it.

Does the Election Commission of Pakistan run AJK elections?

No. AJK has its own election commission. The ECP website will not carry AJK results, so checking there is a wasted trip.

How many seats are needed for a majority in AJK?

The assembly has 53 seats in total, so 27 gives a simple majority once all seats including the eight reserved ones are filled.