ZULFIQAR AHMAD
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) is leading in 10 out of 23 constituencies as Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly elections concluded Sunday, according to unofficial results.
The unofficial results suggested that former chief ministers of GB Syed Mehdi Shah of PPP and Hafizur Rehman of PML-N have lost their seats as vote count is in progress, putting the PTI comfortably ahead in the elections while its opponents – PPP and PML-N – were trailing with four and two seats, respectively, till filing of this report.
PTI candidate Amjad Zaidi won the GB-10 by securing 5972 votes while his opponent, an independent candidate secured 1396 votes.
Minister for planning and development Asad Umar said that federal government would undertake record development programme in GB.
In a tweet, said that after historic federal packages for Karachi and South Balochistan, now work will start on package for Gilgit-Baltistan. PTI, after winning elections will begin work for the region on emergency basis, the minister added.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, which secured a landslide victory with 16 directly-elected seats in the previous election held in 2015, is struggling this time around.
With 10 of its main regional leaders jumping ship to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the chances of PML-N mounting a successful re-election bid appear highly unlikely as far the party is leading in only two constituencies.
According to unconfirmed results, PPP's Engineer Ismail is ahead in GBLA-24, Ghanche-III with 6,206 votes. He is followed by PTI's Shamsuddin who has reportedly secured 5,361 votes.
Meanwhile, in GBLA-7 Skardu-I, PTI's Zakariya Khan is reportedly leading with 2,635 votes, while PPP's Syed Mehdi Shah is second with 1,619.
Independent candidate Wazir Saleem is leading the race with 3,380 votes in GBLA-9 Skardu-III, followed by PTI's Fida Nashad who secured 1,213 votes, according to unconfirmed results.
Voting process in the region began at 8am and continued until 5pm without any interval. Polling in most constituencies went smoothly throughout the day.
In Gilgit city, women and the elderly showed their enthusiasm and turned up at polling stations to cast their votes. However, in Ghizer, Hunza, Sust and Skardu, heavy snowfall continued, restricting citizens to their houses, due to which the polling in one constituency was postponed.
As many as 330 candidates, including four women, are vying for the 24 general seats in the third legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pictures and videos showed citizens lined up outside polling stations, wearing face masks and observing social distancing to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Many also braved heavy snowfall in the upper areas of GB to cast their vote.
Hundreds of passengers, headed to GB to cast their votes, were also stranded near Bisham since last night due to a blockade on the Karakoram Highway.
There were also power outages reported at some polling stations, slowing down the voting process as staff used torches to register voter data.
According to directives issued by the GB government, voters were required to maintain a distance of six feet from each other. Meanwhile, 8,000 bags containing face covers, masks, gloves and sanitisers were dispatched for staff at polling stations.
More than 15,000 security personnel from GB, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan were deployed at polling stations.
Over half of the polling stations had already been categorised sensitive. Out of 1,141 polling stations, 577 have been declared sensitive and 297 highly sensitive.
