Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Sardar Ziaul Qamar on Thursday won the Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) LA-15 by-election, unofficial results suggest.

According to unofficial results of all 189 polling stations, Zia secured 22,619 votes, leaving behind Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Mushtaq Minhas. He received 17,321 votes.

The seat fell vacant after the AJK High Court disqualified former AJK PM Sardar Tanvir Ilyas, who had won the 2018’s election with 20,010 votes.

Eighteen candidates contested the election, including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Colonel Zamir and others. The number of registered voters is 101,145, with male voters at 53,107 and female voters at 48,038.