Islamabad, Nov 15: Voters donning face masks cast their ballots on Sunday in Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan amidst tight security in the third legislative assembly election, believed to be the most hotly contested polls the region has ever seen.
India has slammed Pakistan for its decision to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan and said any action to alter the status of the militarily-occupied region has no legal basis. The voting which commenced at 8.00 am ended peacefully without any break at 5.00 pm and no untoward incident was reported. The counting of votes has started and complete results are expected on Monday.
Earlier, the polling officials said that the voters present inside the polling stations would be allowed to cast ballots even after the end of polling time. There are 24 seats for the contest but polling on one seat was postponed, leaving 23 seats up for grabs.
As many as 330 candidates, including four women, are in the contest, they said. Alleging poll rigging, Secretary General of the Opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Nayyar Bukhari demanded disqualification of ruling PTI candidates from the election, the Dawn report said. “The announcement of development projects during an election is a clear sign of rigging,” he said in a statement. However, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, also a senior leader of PTI, rejected allegations of poll rigging, the report said. India has opposed Pakistan’s plan to hold elections in Gilgit-Baltistan.
“Any action by Pakistan to alter the status of the militarily-occupied so-called ‘Gilgit-Baltistan’ has no legal basis whatsoever and is totally void ab-initio,” Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said at a virtual media briefing in September. (PTI)
