Overview
- The party’s parliamentary board, led by Nawaz Sharif in Lahore, interviewed more than 200 aspirants for 45 Azad Jammu and Kashmir assembly seats.
- Each hopeful got two to three minutes and faced questions on loyalty to PML-N and their standing with voters in their home areas.
- Nawaz Sharif will make the final calls on tickets, with party sources and media reports pointing to decisions in about a month and plans for top leaders to campaign in the region in mid-June.
- The PML-N AJK chapter counted 210 applications overall, with heavy interest in LA-11 Sehnsa in Kotli and single applicants in LA-25 and LA-7 from senior leaders Shah Ghulam Qadir and Chaudhary Khalid Farooq.
- A senior PML-N figure said the race is likely to set PML-N against PPP in AJK, while PTI is described as disorganized in the region.