{"id":1209,"date":"2026-06-07T15:28:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/?p=1209"},"modified":"2026-06-07T15:28:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T15:28:30","slug":"voting-concludes-across-24-g-b-constituencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/06\/07\/voting-concludes-across-24-g-b-constituencies\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting concludes across 24 G-B constituencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ISLAMABAD<\/strong>: Voting concluded on Sunday in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Legislative Assembly elections, with more than 958,000 registered voters casting their ballots across 24 constituencies, as counting begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polling was held from 8am to 5pm, with 13 seats required to form the next government in the strategically important region. It has begun at 1,691 polling stations, with more than 7,500 polling staff deployed. A total of 130 candidates from 24 political parties and 266 independent candidates are contesting the elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The G-B Assembly comprises 33 seats, including 24 elected through direct elections, 6 reserved for women, and 3 reserved for technocrats and professionals. Reserved seats are allocated to political parties based on proportional representation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

G-B’s caretaker Information Minister Ghulam Abbas said polling had begun peacefully across the region, with a large number of voters exercising their right to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the caretaker government and the Election Commission had made comprehensive security arrangements, with personnel from the police, Rangers, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, and the Pakistan Army deployed at sensitive locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ghulam Abbas urged citizens to come out and vote, expressing hope that the electoral process would contribute to the continued development and prosperity of G-B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, PML-N candidate and former chief minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman was seen recording a video while casting his vote. He stamped the ballot paper in front of a camera after casting his vote at the Civil Dispensary polling station in his native Paltani Mohalla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the election code of conduct, voters are not permitted to carry mobile phones or cameras inside polling stations. The incident drew attention as candidates themselves were accused of breaching election rules during the voting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political parties shared videos of their workers chanting slogans and showing enthusiasm as polling drew to a close. The PML-N shared footage of its supporters raising slogans outside a polling station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PTI also released a video showing people on the streets carrying party flags and marching towards polling stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan visited several polling stations in Gilgit, accompanied by Provincial Election Commissioner Abid Raza, to review polling arrangements, security measures, and the overall electoral environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During visits to polling stations at Jutial Elementary College and Khomar City Park, the chief election commissioner expressed satisfaction with the arrangements and directed polling staff and security personnel to ensure neutrality, transparency, and the smooth conduct of the voting process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Election officials said voter turnout was steady, although long queues of male and female voters formed outside several polling stations. Some voters complained of delays and a slow polling process. Raja Shahbaz Khan took notice of the complaints and sought reports from relevant officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief election commissioner also inspected facilities available to voters and met polling agents representing candidates. According to election officials, polling agents expressed satisfaction with the peaceful atmosphere and arrangements at polling stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read: 24 seats up for grabs as G-B goes to polls today<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of his review of security preparations, Khan visited the Gilgit Safe City Control Centre, where he was briefed on security measures and monitoring arrangements. Officials informed him that election-related activities were being continuously monitored through a modern surveillance system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inspector general of police and other officials briefed the chief election commissioner on the security plan and special measures put in place for election day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking during the visit, Raja Shehbaz Khan said all available resources were being utilised to ensure free, fair, peaceful and transparent elections. He also praised the performance of the district administration and law-enforcement agencies and urged voters to participate fully in the democratic process while helping maintain a peaceful environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) shared a video on X of the party\u2019s election camp in Skardu-I (GBLA-7), where voters and supporters gathered throughout the day, with party workers claiming strong public support for their candidate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: Voting concluded on Sunday in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) Legislative Assembly elections, with more than 958,000 registered voters casting their ballots across 24 constituencies, as counting begins. Polling was held from 8am to 5pm, with 13 seats required to form the next government in the strategically important region. It has begun at 1,691 polling stations, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1211,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16,60],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":["post-1209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest","category-national","category-politics"],"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"afnanwasif","display_name":"Web Desk","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbec8328241e98fefcd32e00f20f7a6b502086a0b95d395db4b1565c51681914?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"1","first_name":"Web","last_name":"Desk","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1209"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1212,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1209\/revisions\/1212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1209"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=1209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}