The PTI rejected the tentative election results for 24 seats of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, levelling allegations of rigging and calling for re-election in a constituency in Astore.
The preliminary count from Sunday’s polls indicates that the PPP is currently leading in 10 constituencies, the PML-N in six, and independent candidates in five.
Addressing a press conference, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said PTI was barred from campaigning in the days leading up to the election, alleging that it was part of a “planned arrangement aimed at eliminating the party from the polls”.
He said that out of the region’s 24 seats, PTI-backed candidates were leading in two constituencies Naik Karim in Hunza and Sohail Abbas in Gilgit while their ally Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen’s Muhammad Kazim was ahead in Skardu.
However, Gohar claimed PTI-backed candidates were “winning 100 per cent” in a total of eight constituencies — one seat from Astore, one from Diamer, two from Nagar, and one from Ghizer.
He alleged that due to “rigging, vote-stuffing, and the casting of bogus votes”, PTI’s “victory” was overturned. The PTI chairman said the party had demanded a re-election in Rehmanpur, Astore, stating that they had brought evidence of “167 bogus votes” to the presiding officer’s attention.
“PTI rejects the process, results and vote count of this election,” the PTI chairman said, stressing that “once again, people who did not have the people’s mandate have been given a false mandate”, in an apparent reference to the 2024 general elections.
