PPP, JUI forge electoral alliance for AJK polls; joint candidates announced for two seats

MIRPUR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Jun, 2026) The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) AJK on Sunday formally announced an electoral alliance for the July 27, 2026, elections to the 53-member Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, agreeing to field joint candidates in selected constituencies.

The alliance was announced at a joint news conference in Islamabad by PPP AJK President Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin and JUI AJK chief Maulana Saeed Yousaf. According to a PPP AJK press release, the event was attended by Senior Minister Mian Abdul Waheed, PPP candidate and Minister Nabeela Ayub, Political Assistant Syed Azadar Hussain Kazmi and other party leaders. Under the agreement, JUI candidates will contest as joint nominees in LA-23 Sudhnoti/Plundri and LA-14 Western Bagh/Dhirkot, while PPP candidates Nabeela Ayub and Zobia Khurshid will withdraw their nomination papers in support of the alliance. In all remaining Constituencies, JUI will back PPP candidates.

Addressing the press conference, Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin said the alliance marked an important development in AJK politics and credited PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and JUI chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for facilitating the agreement.

He reaffirmed the PPP's longstanding commitment to the Kashmir cause, saying the party had consistently raised the issue at national and international forums. Maulana Saeed Yousaf described the arrangement as the first formal electoral alliance between the two parties in AJK and urged JUI candidates who had filed nomination papers elsewhere to withdraw in line with the party's decision.

Senior Minister Mian Abdul Waheed termed the alliance a reflection of the political maturity and mutual understanding of both parties' leadership. PPP candidate Nabeela Ayub announced that she would withdraw her nomination papers in accordance with the party's policy and actively campaign for the joint candidate in her constituency. Leaders of both parties expressed confidence that the alliance would strengthen their electoral prospects and enable them to form the next government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir following the July 27 elections.

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