PTI emerges single largest party in GB polls

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf emerged as the single largest party in the hotly-contested Gilgit-Baltistan elections on Sunday, according to unofficial and unconfirmed results.

Results showed that the PTI won on nine seats followed by independent candidates who won six seats, PPP won four seats, PML-N, JUI-F, MWM and Islami Tehreek Pakistan of Sajid Ali Naqvi got one seat each.

According to the first unofficial complete result, the PPP’s Muhammad Ismail won the election in GBA-24 constituency by securing 6,206 votes. The PTI candidate Syed Shamsuddin came second with 5,361 votes.

Muhammad Kazim of Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) – an ally of the PTI – won the election in GBA-8 constituency by bagging 7,534 votes. PPP’s Syed M Ali Shah came second with 7,146 votes.

In GBA-12, PTI candidate Raja Azam Khan beat PPP’s Imran Nadeem, bagging 7,534 votes. Nadeem managed to secure 7,146 votes. Independent candidate Javed Ali Manwa emerged victorious after bagging 2,570 votes in GBA-5 election. Rizwan Ali of Majlis-e-Wahdatul Muslimeen secured the second position with 1,850 votes.

In GBA-22, independent candidate Mushtaq Hussain with 6,051 votes managed to beat his rival from PTI Muhammad Ibrahim Sanai, who could only get 4,945 votes.

Raja Zakaria Khan Maqpoon of PTI defeated his PPP opponent Syed Mehdi Shah, former G-B chief minister, in GBA-7 election. Maqpoon secured 5,290 votes while Mehdi Shah managed to bag 4,114 votes. The PPP candidate Amjad Hussainclinched victory in GBA-4 election by securing 4,716 votes. Muhammad Ayub of Islami Tehreek Pakistan (ITP) came second with 4,291, while Zulfiqar Ali of PTI bagged 2,200 votes.

Independent candidate Raja Nasir Ali Khan emerged victorious on GBA-10 (Skardu-IV) by securing 4,667 votes, Wazir Hassan of the PTI was runner-up with 3,344 votes.

In GBA-13 (Astore-I), Muhammad Khalid Khurshid Khan of PTI won by securing 4,836 votes, while Abdul Hamid Khan of the PPP remained runner-up with 3,117 votes.

In GBA-20 (Ghizer-II), Nazir Ahmed of PTI won by securing 5,582 votes, while Khan Akbar Khan of PML-Q was runner-up with 4,800 votes.

The GBA-3 (Gilgit-III) election was postponed after one candidate, Justice (R) Syed Jaffar Shah, died of the novel coronavirus on October 10. He was contesting on the PTI’s ticket. After his death, PML-N candidate Dr Iqbal switched loyalties and joined the ruling party. The election will be held at a later date.Voting process in the region began at 8:00am and continued until 5:00pm 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, Sost and Baltistan heavy snowfall continued, restricting citizens to their houses.

As many as 330 candidates, including four women, were vying for the 24 general seats in the third legislative assembly of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Citizens lined up outside polling stations, wearing facemasks 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.

More than 15,000 security personnel from GB, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan were deployed at polling stations.