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General elections in Gilgit-Baltistan to be held on June 7

General elections in Gilgit Baltistan will be held on June 7, the GB Election Commission announced on Saturday after a four-month delay.

General elections for the assembly were scheduled for Jan 24, 2026. However, days after the announcement, the elections were postponed indefinitely due to harsh weather conditions in the region.

The GB Election Commission Secretariat, in a notification available with Dawn, announced June 7 as the poll day for the Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly general elections.

The GB Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan also confirmed the development. As for the local government election, Khan said a schedule will be issued later, and it will be held after the general election.

He added that preparations were ready for both.

LG polls in GB, announced after a gap of 20 years, were initially set for Feb 14, 2026.

Earlier this month, the GB chief election commissioner said the electoral watchdog was preparing to conduct the elections but had not yet decided on a date.

Fourteen political parties had stood opposed to holding elections in the months of January or February due to harsh weather conditions, as many areas remained cut off from other areas amid heavy snowfall.

Political parties in GB were uncertain about holding elections before June but feared they could be delayed until October. They agreed that holding elections during Muharram, which begins on June 15 or 16 this year, or on other religious occasions such as Chehlum, was not possible.

Political leaders therefore feared that postponing elections until June could effectively delay them until September or October.

Five-year background

The last GB Assembly elections were held on Nov 15, 2020, across 24 constituencies. The PTI formed the government, and Khalid Khurshid was elected chief minister.

However, in July 2023, the GB Chief Court disqualified Khurshid. Subsequently, a coalition government was formed by members of the PTI disgruntled group, the PPP, and the PML-N, which elected Haji Gulbar Khan as the new CM.

The assembly completed its five-year tenure on Nov 24, 2025.

Subsequently, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, being the GB council chairman, appointed retired justice Yar Muhammad as the caretaker chief minister of GB on the same day, under the “terms of Article 48-A(2) of the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan Order, 2018”.

According to the 2018 GBO, elections must be held within 60 days following the completion of the assembly’s tenure.

On December 12, President Asif Ali Zardari had announced Jan 24 as the pol­­l­ing day for the GB general elections. CEC Shahbaz had issued the election schedule for both GB Assembly elections, as well as the long-delayed LG polls, following the presidential order.

On December 18, after multiparty meetings and with a majority opinion among party heads, the CEC postponed the elections due to harsh weather. The CEC had said that the new polling dates for both elections would be announced later.

The CEC had told the media that the schedule for both elections would be issued for the “last week of May or early June”, when the weather had normalised.



from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/gq72r0M
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