PPP's Akhtar Abbas Nashad wins by-election in Skardu's GBA-09

GILGIT: PPP candidate Akhtar Abbas Nashad won the by-election in GBA-09 (Skardu-III) by a margin of 305 votes after a closely contested race, according to official results issued on Sunday.

The constituency recorded an overall voter turnout of 51.79 per cent in the election held a day ago.

According to the Form 47 issued on Sunday, Nashad received 8,399 votes while his opponent, independent candidate Wazir Saleem, received 8,094 votes.

The by-election was held after the GB Supreme Appellate Court disqualified PPP candidate Fida Muhammad Nashad — Abbas’s father — who had been declared a returned candidate in the June general elections.

In the by-election, Fida’s son entered the electoral fray and reclaimed the seat that had been lost by his father.

The by-election concluded after a highly thrilling contest, marked by a fierce battle between the two candidates that persisted right up to the final stage.

More than 800 police personnel, in addition to GB Scouts, were deployed under special security arrangements for the polling. The electoral process remained largely smooth and peaceful, while a local holiday was also declared to facilitate voters.

Analysts had said a close contest was expected between PPP’s Abbas and independent candidate Saleem. They said Abbas could retain his father’s vote bank and may benefit from public sympathy following Nashad’s disqualification by the GB Supreme Appellate Court.

District Returning Officer (DRO) Hamza Murad told Dawn on Friday that GBA-09 had 61 polling stations, of which 25 had been declared sensitive under Category A, 11 had been placed in Category B as medium-sensitive, and 25 had been classified as normal under Category C.

With this seat, the PPP will hold 15 seats in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. Currently, the PPP has 14 seats, the PML-N has nine, the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party has six, and the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen and a PTI-backed independent occupy one seat each.