ISLAMABAD: The newly-elected members of the Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly will take oath on Nov 25 as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s tally has reached 17, and the party is now in a comfortable position to form its government. A PTI candidate, Syed Sohail Abbas, won the election for Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly's constituency GBLA-3 on Sunday.

Elections in other constituencies of the GB assembly were held on Nov 15. In GBLA-3 the voting was postponed due to the death of PTI candidate Syed Jaffar Shah. Shah, who was also the president of the PTI GB chapter, died of Covid-19 on Oct 11, after filing his nomination papers.

According to unofficial results, Sohail Abbas got 5,790 votes, defeating independent candidate, Dr Mohammad Iqbal, who received 3,211 votes. Five out of total six independent candidates who emerged victorious in the November 15 elections joined the PTI.

These included Wazir Muhammad Saleem (Skardu 3), Raja Nasir Ali Khan (Skardu 4), Mushtaq Hussain (Ghanche 1), Abdul Hameed (Ghanche 2), and Javaid Manwa from district Nagar. All the five winners said they wanted to work for their constituencies and for the people of G-B. Following this new development, the ruling party has secured a majority in G-B Legislative Assembly.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020