360581 women in AJK not registered for vote

Faiza Gillani

MUZAFFARABAD: Detail of none registered women in Azad Jammu and Kashmir unfolded prior to local body elections here on Wednesday. 360581 women of AJK are not registered for casting the votes.
According to government facts and figures, Azad Kashmir is one of those regions which are having high literacy rate. The current literacy rate of Azad Kashmir is 74%. Women are playing more role than men in maintaining this rate. But, still the women are having very minimal representation in political activities. Women are ignored as voters as well as representatives in the state.
General elections were held in AJK in 2021. Women left quite behind then men in the election procedure. Parties did not consider women while issuing tickets. There are 06 seats for women in the assembly of 33 members in GB. On the other hand, there are only 05 seats for women in AJK’s assembly of 53 members.
Besides this, there are some other issues in the state which are stopping the women from taking part in the politics. While talking to Country News, a woman said that there are issues of harassment in the political parties. The male politicians often ask the females to come in physical relationship with them to get space in the party. These are the reasons due to which women avoid joining the politics, she added.
The current government is going to conduct the local body elections in the state, but more than 360581 women are not registered for casting the votes. Due to this issue women would not be able to give their inputs for political activities in the state.