GILGIT, Oct 13: Independent candidates have emerged as the key players in the 24-seat Northern Areas Legislative Council by bagging nine seats.
According to the unofficial results, the People's Party Parliamentarians and the Pakistan Muslim League got seven seats each and the PML (Nawaz) two in the election held on Tuesday.
Analysts are of the view that there are ample chances for the PPP and the PML-N to form the government by gaining the support of four independent candidates. Two of the winning candidates, Syed Assad Zaidi and Abdul Quddus, have had affiliation with the PPP but they contested the election independently.
The PML may form the government by wooing at least six independent members but there are two contestants in the party for the post of the deputy chief executive, Fida Mohammad Nashad and Ghazanfar Ali.
Former speaker of the council, Sahib Khan, deputy speaker Muhammad Jafar, and former advisers Shaikh Ghulam Haider and Janbaz lost their seats. Mr Nashad, the former deputy chief executive, and former advisers Imran Nadeem and Mohammad Ismail retained their seats.
Ghazanfar Khan, from NA-VI, Hunza, got the highest number of votes, 8,634. The turnout in the election was 35 per cent. Sporadic clashes were reported in Rundu, Shigar and parts of Gilgit.
RIGGING ALLEGED: The rivals of PML-N candidate Hafizur Rahman have alleged that "massive rigging and irregularities" were committed during the polls in their constituency.
Jamil Ahmed of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (Fazl), Mohammad Musa of the PPP and Mohammad Rashid Khan of the PML urged the election commission to suspend the results, wherein Mr Rahman is ahead of his rivals.
They alleged that polling staff was not present in at least nine polling stations and the ballot papers sent there were missing. They claimed that the administration had arrested the returning officer of the constituency, Taghoon Nabi, but official sources said he was in a hospital. They said they had evidence regarding late commencement of polling at various stations in Gilgit.
