PPP’s Shah, IPP’s Malik face off again as voting under way for Diamer seat at 3 polling stations

In Gilgit, the political contest for the GBA-16 (Diamer-II) seat is heating up as Attaullah Shah from the PPP and Imam Malik from the IPP once again engage in a battle for the votes. A total of 2,780 registered voters are participating in this repolling exercise, which is ongoing at three polling stations. Voting will conclude at 5pm, with those still inside the polling booths at that time allowed to cast their ballots.

While Malik previously ran as an independent candidate in the June elections, he subsequently joined the IPP. However, his journey was not without hurdles. In September, Shah filed a petition before an election tribunal, arguing that the returning officer had issued Form-49 without adequately counting the postal ballots. The tribunal agreed, suspending Malik's membership based on this concern.

The tribunal directed the relevant returning officer to complete the verification and counting of postal ballot papers by September 16, suspending Malik's membership in the meantime.

The counting and verification of postal ballots for GBA-16 (Diamer-II) took place, and Shah was declared the winner on September 14, according to the revised consolidated results released by the GB Election Commission. He secured 6,618 votes, narrowly defeating Malik by just 13 votes. However, Malik did not back down easily. He challenged the tribunal's decision before the GB Supreme Appellate Court, which dismissed his appeal on September 19. The appellate court upheld the tribunal's ruling, declaring Shah the returned candidate.

Malik was not content with this outcome either. He continued to challenge the results at three polling stations and petitioned the election tribunal to order re-polling. The tribunal accepted Malik's plea and suspended Shah's membership, directing the chief election commissioner to conduct re-polling within 12 days of November 6.