At a glance: Gilgit-Baltistan Elections 2020

Gilgit-Baltistan Elections are slated to be held on November 15, 2020

(Web Desk) - The third elections of Gilgit Baltistan Assembly are scheduled to be held on November 15, 2020. With less than a week remaining, election campaigns of all major political parties are in full-swing. Top leadership of all parties has been holding daily rallies across all major cities of the region.

Winner of the previous election in 2015, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, is looking to regain power but Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) are believed to be the real contenders this time around.

Background: The territory of Gilgit-Baltistan was granted limited autonomy in 2009 after the then-President Asif Ali Zardari signed the Empowerment and Self Governance Order in a bid to empower its over 1 million population. In November 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Gilgit-Baltistan would be given the status of a provisional province, and the process to fully convert it into an actual province is currently underway

PPP won the first elections in 2009 while PML-N emerged victorious in the second election, winning 22 seats out of a total of 33. The 2020 polls were originally scheduled to be held in July but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Constituencies: Gilgit Baltistan has a total of 24 constituencies while its assembly has 33 seats. The political candidates will contest for 24 out of 33 seats while the remaining seats are reserved for women (6) and technocrats (3). According to the Election Commission of GB, the total number of registered voters is 745,361, of which 339,992 are women.

Nearly 1,234 polling stations have been set up in 24 constituencies, of which 415 had been declared extremely sensitive. Police, GB Scouts, the Rangers and FC personnel would be deployed to ensure a smooth election process.

GB caretaker Chief Minister Mir Afzal had earlier announced that Pakistan Army’s support would not be sought for the upcoming elections.

Here is a complete breakdown of all GB constituencies and the respective candidates contesting on behalf of the three major political parties:

— GBA-1, GILGIT-1

PTI - Johar Ali PML-N - JafarUllah Khan PPP - Amjad Hussain

— GBA-2, GILGIT-II

PTI - Fateh Hullah Khan PML-N - Hafeez-Ur-Rehman PPP - Jamil Ahmed

— GBA-4 NAGAR-I

PTI - Zulfiqar Ali PML-N - Arif Hussain PPP - Amjad Hussain

— GBA-5 NAGAR-II

PML-N - Sajjad Hussain PPP - Mirza Hussain

— GBA-6, HUNZA

PTI - Abaid Ullah Baig PML-N - Rehan Shah PPP - Zahoor Karim

— GBA-7, SKARDU-I

PTI - Raja Muhammad Zakaria Khan Maqpoon PML-N - Muhammad Akbar Khan PPP - Syed Mehdi Shah

— GBA-8, SKARDU-II

PML-N - Muhammad Saeed PPP - Syed M. Ali Shah

— GBA-9, SKARDU-III

PTI - Fida Muhammad Nashad PPP - Wazir Waqar Ali

— GBA-10, SKARDU-IV

PTI - Wazir Hassan PML-N - Ghulam Abbas PPP - Muhammad Khan Wazir

— GBA-11 KHARMANG

PTI - Syed Amjad Ali PML-N - Shabbir Hussain PPP - Niaz Ali

— GBA-12 SHIGAR

PTI - Raja Muhammad Azam Khan PML-N - Muhammad Tahir Unahar Shigir PPP - Imran Nadeem

— GBA-13, ASTORE-1

PTI - M Khalid Khurshid Khan PML-N - Rana Farman Ali PPP - Abdul Hamid Khan

— GBA-14, ASTORE-II

PTI - Shamsul Haq Lone PML-N - Rana Muhammad Farooq PPP - Muzaffar Ali

— GBA-15, DIAMER-I

PTI - Noshad Alam PML-N - Abdul Wajid PPP - Bashir Ahamed

— GBA-16, DIAMER-II

PTI - Atiqullah PML-N - Eng. Muhammad Anwar PPP - Dilbar Khan

— GBA-17, DIAMER-III

PTI - Haider Khan PML-N - Saddar Alam PPP - Ghafar Khan

— GBA-18, DIAMER-IV

PTI - Gul Bar Khan PPP - Sadia Danish

— GBA-19, GHIZER-I

PTI - Zaffar Muhammad PML-N - Atif Salman PPP - Syed Jalal Ali Shah

— GBA-20, GHIZER-II

PTI - Nazir Ahmed PML-N - Muhammad Nazar Khan PPP - Ali MadadSher

— GBA-21, GHIZER-III

PTI – Jahan Zaib PML-N - Ghulam Muhammad PPP - Muhammad Ayub Shah

— GBA-22, GHANCHE-I

PTI - Muhammad Ibrahim Sanai PML-N – Razaul Haq PPP – Muahammad Jaffar

— GBA-23, GHANCHE-II

PTI – Amina Bibi PML-N – Ghulam Hussain PPP - Ghulam Ali Haidary

— GBA-24, GHANCHE-III

PTI - Syed Shamsuddin PML-N – Manzoor Hussain PPP - Muhammad Ismail

Previous Elections: In 2009, Pakistan People’s Party won the majority and secured 14 out of 24 seats in the election, winning 33.08% of votes. PPP’s Syed Mehdi Shah was unanimously elected as the first Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan by the Assembly.

In 2015, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz won the second election and secured 16 out of 24 seats. This time, Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman of PML-N was elected as the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.