GILGIT – The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the leading party in the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly elections, securing four seats in unofficial and preliminary results as vote counting continued late Sunday night.
According to results received so far, PPP won four constituencies, while independent candidates secured two seats and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won one seat. Polling for 24 general seats of the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly was held from 8am to 5pm without interruption. A total of 403 candidates, including eight women, contested the elections. The region had 963,034 registered voters, comprising 566,097 men and 396,937 women.
Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz visited several polling stations to review arrangements and monitor the voting process. Speaking to the media after polling concluded, he said the elections were held peacefully and witnessed encouraging participation by women voters. “The election process has been completed in a peaceful environment,” he said, adding that polling staff and security personnel performed their duties efficiently.
According to unofficial results, an independent candidate won GBA-3 Gilgit-III with 7,035 votes, defeating PML-N’s Muhammad Iqbal, who secured 6,487 votes. In GBA-4 Nagar-I, PPP’s Muhammad Ali Akhtar won with 7,670 votes against Islami Tehreek Pakistan’s Muhammad Ayub Waziri, who received 6,566 votes.
PPP candidates also secured victories in GBA-7 Skardu-I, GBA-9 Skardu-III and GBA-12 Shigar. Syed Taqeer Mehdi won GBA-7 with 4,500 votes, Fida Muhammad clinched GBA-9 with 6,314 votes, while Imran Nadeem secured GBA-12 after obtaining 11,663 votes.
In GBA-22 Ghanche-I, PML-N candidate Muhammad Ibrahim Sanai emerged victorious with 9,308 votes, defeating PPP’s Ashiq Hussain. Meanwhile, independent candidate Asad Shafiq won GBA-24 Ghanche-III with 8,092 votes.
The Chief Election Commissioner directed Returning Officers across all constituencies to ensure the timely issuance of verified Form-45 results in accordance with the Elections Act 2017 and Election Rules 2017.
The Election Commission established 1,391 polling stations across Gilgit-Baltistan, including 349 sensitive and 551 highly sensitive stations.
Authorities deployed more than 17,500 security personnel, including police, Rangers and Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, to ensure peaceful polling. Inspector General of Police Nasir Akbar Khan said additional security measures were taken at sensitive locations, while law enforcement agencies remained on high alert throughout the electoral process.
