GILGIT: PPP candidate Akhtar Abbas Nashad won the by-election in GBA-09 (Skardu-Ill) 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.
With this seat, the PPP will now hold 15 seats in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. Currently, the PPP has 14 seats, the PML-N has nine, the lstehkam-i-Pakistan Party has six, and the Majlis Wahdat-iMuslimeen and a PTI-backed independent occupy one seat each.-Jamil Nagri