The government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has recently announced to hold the local bodies election. The announcement has generated a lot of enthusiasm among the political parties. Young political aspirants in particular appear to be flexing muscles to contest the polls. 25 percent of the seats have been reserved for women and the youth. All political parties are trying hard therefore to engage young people. The elections will be held on party basis.

In a press conference, Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, the prime minister of Azad Kashmir, said that the government would hold local body elections within six months as directed by the Supreme Court of AJK. A petition regarding the local bodies elections had been pending in the SC for a long time. On behalf of the AJK government, Assistant Advocate General Mohammad Sajid Malik finally informed the court that the government intended to hold the polls within a period of six months, i.e. not later than August 2022.

Previously, local body elections were last held in 1991. Despite persistent public demand, successive governments had not been able to hold elections. Explaining the delay, Dr Waqas Ali, in his recently published report titled The Local Government System in Azad Jammu & Kashmir, says that leaders of political parties are reluctant to share their administrative and financial powers with elected on another level.

The restoration of local governments in AJK was one of the important slogans in the elections held last July. Prime Minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, who started his political career as a district councillor in 1985, is very keen on this. His office told The News on Sunday (TNS) that the PM had chaired nearly ten meetings to clear the hurdles in the way of LB elections.

In a statement issued on January 25, the prime minister said that local body elections were vital in involving the common man in resolving grassroots problems by fast-tracking the journey to construction and development.

The Election Commission of AJK has also begun the preparations. Chief Election Commissioner Justice Abdul Rashid Sulehria (retired) said that by February 20, the process of correction and amendments in electoral rolls will be completed. The Election Commission has asked unregistered voters, particularly the youth who will have turned 18 years of age by February 20, to get themselves registered as voters. According to the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Election Commission, the total number of registered voters for general elections currently stands at 3,220,793. Out of these 45.58 percent are women. It is hoped that the number of voters will increased significantly ahead of the upcoming local polls.

The AJK’s population is almost 4.5 million. The region is divided into 10 administrative districts. According to the Board of Revenue and Local Government, the AJK has three divisions, 32 sub-divisions, 256 union councils, 1,769 revenue villages, five municipal corporations, 13 municipal committees, 18 town committees, and 31 Markaz councils. The Election Commission has already started the process of delimitation of the local councils.

Almost all political parties have welcomed the holding of local government elections despite expressing some reservations. Chaudhry Latif Akbar, the leader of the opposition in the AJK Legislative Assembly, has said that his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has always been in favour of decentralisation. He says all parties should come together to formulate long-term policies in public interest.

Abdul Rehman, a university student from Kotli, says that holding local government elections after 31 years is a major step forward. He says he hopes that this will help solve the problems of the common man at the village level. Shaista Zahid, 27, says that she is confident that the PTI government will fulfill its promises and ensure that elections are held regularly. She says she also hopes that the elected councillors will play a vital role in initiating new development schemes.

Raja Mansoor Khan, the PTI general secretary, says that the local government elections will help create a culture of trust, accountability and participation. He says that the inclusion of young people at the local level will allow future leaders to emerge naturally. The local leaders, he says, will ultimately become part of state politics.

Young people had been campaigning for the resumption of local bodies for a long time. Several Facebook and WhatsApp groups were established to create awareness in this regard and to put pressure on the authorities to hold elections. Of late, many citizen activists have created social media pages and groups to update people about the upcoming LB polls. They are also using the platform to spreading their political messages and asking voters to support them. All political parties are using social media for effective campaigning for the upcoming local government elections. Hence, the role of young people has grown in importance and it has become obvious that social media is inevitably a major platform to run election campaigns.

The local government elections in the AJK have the potential to change the political culture of the region and pave the way for common people to take a greater part in politics. This can have positive long-term effects on AJK’s politics and socio-economic landscape.

The writer is a Rawalakot, AJK based freelance contributor.

She can be reached at    hunainmehmud101@gmail.com