islamabad
\nThe Chief Secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khushal Khan, on Sunday said all arrangements had been finalised for the upcoming general elections and warned of strict legal action against anyone attempting to disrupt law and order or obstruct the electoral process.
\nAddressing a joint press conference along with Secretary Election Commission *EC) Raja Mohammad Shakeel Khan, Khushal assured voters that the electoral process would be conducted in a peaceful, transparent and fair manner.
\nHe said the formal election process would begin on July 27 in accordance with the Constitution, while all preparations for the general elections had been completed and polling material had been dispatched to returning officers. The chief secretary said nearly 17,000 security personnel had been deployed to ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections. \u201cPolice contingents from all four provinces would assist the AJK Police in providing election security,\u201d he added.
\nKhushhal said all state institutions were fully prepared to ensure free, fair and peaceful elections in AJK.
\nThe chief secretary also said authorities were closely monitoring those spreading misleading propaganda on social media and warned that strict legal action would be taken against anyone attempting to disrupt law and order or obstruct the electoral process.
\nReferring to voter participation, he said AJK had traditionally witnessed a high voter turnout and expressed confidence that this year\u2019s elections would also see strong public participation.
\nSecretary EC said the first phase of polling would be held on Monday (July 27) in Mirpur Division.
\nHe said election arrangements in the division had been completed and polling material had already been dispatched to polling stations.
\nKhan said around 22,000 election staff had been deployed and all preparations had been finalised.
\nHe said the chief election commissioner had visited Mirpur and expressed satisfaction with the arrangements, adding that election staff had received transparent and effective training.
\nAccording to Khan, police, rangers and the Federal Constabulary had been placed on high alert to ensure the peaceful conduct of the elections.
\nHe described the vote as the public\u2019s most important democratic tool and urged citizens to participate in the electoral process.
\nKhan said old videos relating to calls for an election boycott were being circulated on social media to create a misleading impression, adding that no untoward incident had occurred during the election campaign.
\nHe said all political parties and candidates had welcomed the code of conduct and urged voters to respond to uncertainty by casting their ballots and electing their preferred representatives.
\n\u201cThe entire electoral process across AJK will be conducted in a peaceful, transparent and fair manner,\u201d he said.
\nThe first phase of the AJK general elections is set to begin on Monday (July 27) across Mirpur Division.
\nA day earlier, the AJK Information Department called on journalists and media organisations to exercise maximum responsibility in their election coverage, urging them to ensure that only verified, accurate and balanced information reaches the public, particularly during polling, vote counting and the announcement of results.
\nThe department also urged media personnel to refrain from sharing content that could incite unrest, create confusion among voters or adversely affect law and order, especially during the sensitive stages of vote counting and the announcement of unofficial and official results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
islamabad The Chief Secretary of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Khushal Khan, on Sunday said all arrangements had been finalised for the upcoming general elections and warned of strict legal action against anyone attempting to disrupt law and order or obstruct the electoral process. Addressing a joint press conference along with Secretary Election Commission *EC) …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100804,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100832,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100819\/revisions\/100832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/100804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}