ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP): Polling to the Gilgit Baltistan Legislative Assembly (GBLA) general elections on Sunday concluded peacefully in a free, fair and peaceful manner and no untoward incident was reported in any constituency.
The polling process for the general elections of Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly continued from 8 in the morning till 5 in the evening amid tight security and with complete observance of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in the wake of Covid19 pandemic.
Around 745,361 voters including 126,997 fresh voters from 23 constituencies of 10 districts of Gilgit-Baltistan cast votes in favour of their candidate out of total 330 contesting election at 1160 polling stations. Out of these 847 polling booths, 418 were declared highly sensitive, 311 sensitive and 431 normal.
Voters belonging to every field of life were enthusiastic to cast vote for their favourite candidate on the Election Day which would decide the fate of the province.
Caretaker Chief Minister, Gilgit Baltistan, Mir Afzal Khan and Chief Election Commissioner, GB, Raja Shehbaz Khan visited different polling stations and expressed satisfaction over election arrangements, process and security related matters.
Talking to the media, Raja Shahbaz said that the process of polling continued smoothly and no complains or reservations were received from any candidate or voters across Gilgit-Baltistan.
Caretaker Chief Minister (CM), Gilgit Baltistan, Mir Afzal said that he was fully satisfied with the election process.
He congratulated the Election Commission for making best arrangements for elections.
More than 15900 security personnel from GB, Punjab, KPK, Sind and Balochistan were deployed to ensure full security across GB.
Election Commission Gilgit-Baltistan had prohibited to carry mobile phones and other such devices inside the polling stations and within the parameters of 100 meters, banners and posters of contesting candidates and within the parameters of 400 meters campaign of contesting candidates was prohibited.
Due to snowfall in upper areas of district Astore, some areas of Baltistan division districts Hunza, Nagar and upper parts of district Gilgit and district Ghizer polling process had been delayed for some time but later began again as per expectations.
