Court orders re-polling at eight Diamer stations
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GILGIT: The Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday ordered re-polling at eight polling stations in the GBA-17 Diamer constituency.
Chief Judge of the GB Supreme Appellate Court Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim also heard election petitions challenging the Form-47 results of GBA-15 Diamer and GBA-9 Skardu on Thursday.
JUI-F candidate Rehmat Khaliq had filed a petition seeking re-polling at 11 polling stations in GBA-17 Diamer before the official announcement of results. According to Form-47, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Mohammad Naseem was declared the returned candidate from the constituency.
On June 19, the court had accepted the petition and suspended the results of GBA-17 Diamer, fixing July 2 for hearing of the case.
Cites violence, irregularities and interference during June 7 balloting
After hearing detailed arguments from both sides and representatives of the Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan, the court reserved its judgement, which was announced on Friday.
In its decision, the court ordered re-polling at eight polling stations in GBA-17 Diamer.
The judgement noted that evidence on record showed violent incidents at eight polling stations during polling on June 7.
It stated that armed groups forcibly entered polling stations, harassed polling staff and removed election material, resulting in serious irregularities and violations of the Elections Act, 2017.
The court held that these incidents had compromised the integrity of the electoral process at the affected polling stations.
It directed the Chief Election Commissioner of Gilgit-Baltistan to immediately announce a fresh schedule for re-polling and ensure that the process is conducted strictly in accordance with the law.
During the hearing of three separate election petitions on Thursday, the court also reserved judgement in the GBA-15 Diamer case, while proceedings in the GBA-9 Skardu case were adjourned till Monday.
Earlier, the chief judge had suspended the election result of independent candidate Dilpazeer Khan from GBA-15 (Diamer-I), who later joined the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP), as well as the result of Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Fida Muhammad Nashad from GBA-9 Skardu.
In all three cases, the court directed the concerned authorities to maintain suspension of the results until final decisions are announced.
Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2026
