Voting for Gilgit-Baltistan's most tumultuous election continues amid threats of the corona virus and heavy snowfall.
330 candidates including 4 women are contesting for 24 general seats of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly but elections have been postponed in one constituency.
Citizens of Gilgit-Baltistan were seen queuing in front of polling stations wearing face masks and maintaining social distance to protect themselves from the Corona epidemic to exercise their voting right.
Polling is going on uninterruptedly in all the 23 constituencies while a large number of women and elders also turned out to cast their votes in Gilgit city. Likely to stay low.
#GilgitBaltistanElections2020 Polling starts with #COVID19 SOPs#APPNews @DeputyGhizer @fslsltn @MoIB_Official @RandhawaAli #GilgitBaltis pic.twitter.com/e8D7svB6N3
— APP 🇵🇰 (@appcsocialmedia) November 15, 2020
There were also reports of power outages at some polling stations, which slowed down the voting process and staff used flashlights to register voters.
The Gilgit-Baltistan government has also provided 8,000 bags of face masks, gloves and sanitizers to polling staff.
According to the report of Radio Pakistan, the voting process will continue from 8 am to 5 pm without any interruption. In addition, 15,000 security personnel from Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan have been deployed.
Out of 1,141 polling stations, 297 were declared sensitive during the elections.
This time the election is significant because two opposition parties campaigned aggressively for it and the said election was a test for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as well as opposition leaders Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Maryam Nawaz. Is the case
As the political temperature peaked during the election campaign, leaders of the three major political parties held public rallies in different parts of the region and ignored the 100 notices issued by the Gilgit-Baltistan Election Commission. Made aggressive statements against
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who has been in Gilgit-Baltistan for four weeks, was leading his party's election campaign.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Imran Khan also attended a function held on the occasion of Gilgit-Baltistan Independence Day and announced to give provincial status to the area soon.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz also took part in the election campaign.
According to political analysts, fierce competition is expected between the PTI and the PPP.
The election was scheduled to take place in August but was postponed due to the corona virus. The PPP has fielded 23 candidates while the PML-N has fielded 21 candidates.
The PTI has adjusted the seats in two constituencies with the Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen. In addition, the party has been strengthened by the involvement of local leaders and Fida Muhammad is one of the politicians who was given a party ticket.
According to a recent survey, the PTI's position in the region is stable, after which the PPP has significant support.
Gilgit-Baltistan was formerly known as the Federally Administered Northern Areas, an autonomous region with a separate system of government and electoral framework.
The total number of registered voters in the region is 745,361 which includes 450,305 men and 339,998 women, thus the proportion of female voters is 45.61%.
The total number of voters in the by-elections was 618,364 which included 329,475 men and 288,889 women. At that time, the proportion of female voters was 46.71%. And the margin of male voters increased by 1.10%.
