GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan cabinet at its first meeting on Wednes­day decided to hold the local bodies elections in the region, bringing an end to a legal battle over the issue.

Chief Minister Haji Gulbar Khan, who was in the chair, issued instructions to GB Chief Election Commissioner Raja Shahbaz Khan to make arrangements for the long-delayed vote.

The cabinet meeting, held at the CM Office in Gilgit, was also attended by Chief Secretary Mohyuddin Ahmed Wani and Inspector General of Police Afzal Mahmood Butt, according to a press release.

When contacted, CEC Shahbaz Khan told Dawn that his department was prepared to hold the exercise, adding that local bodies elections would be conducted in the first week of November.

“Local bodies elections have not been held in GB for the last 18 years,” he recalled.

The CEC said that 1,300 employees from various departments were being deputed to carry out door-to-door verification of the voter list, indicating the process for the democratic exercise has been set in motion.

In April 2021, the GB Chief Court had directed the government and the election commission to hold local bodies elections in the region immediately.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Malik Haq Nawaz and Justice Ali Baig had passed the judgement while hearing a petition seeking holding of LB elections.

In its short judgement, the chief court had said the GB government had been illegally running local bodies institutions through non-elected administrative officials who had been allocating funds in the name of local bodies which, the verdict said, was against the principles of fair distribution, transparency and good governance.

As the verdict remained unimplemented, the chief court on June 12, 2022 ordered the region’s government to issue the schedule for LB polls within a month.

However, the then chief minister Khalid Khurshid Khan challenged the verdict in the GB Supreme Appellate Court which suspended the chief court’s order. The case has been pending in the appellate court since then.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2023