PTI to issue white paper on GB ‘poll rigging’

• Gohar announces ‘black day’ on new govt’s swearing in
• Seeks re-election in Astore; says party brought evidence of ‘167 bogus votes’ to presiding officer’s attention
• Opposition alliance also rejects results, describes them ‘action replay’ of 2024 general polls

ISLAMABAD: Rejecting the results of the Gilgit-Baltistan elections, the PTI announced on Monday that it would issue a white paper detailing “electoral irregularities” and also observe a ‘black day’ when the newly elected lawmakers of the region take their oath of office.

Addressing a press conference, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the party’s primary agenda was to address “widespread irregularities” in the GB elections held on Sunday. He claimed that PTI was barred from campaigning in the days leading up to the election, alleging that it was part of a “planned arrangement aimed at eliminating the party from the polls”.

He said that out of the region’s 24 seats, PTI-backed candidates were leading in two constituencies — Naik Karim in Hunza and Sohail Abbas in Gilgit — while their ally Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen’s Muhammad Kazim was ahead in Skardu.

However, he claimed that PTI-backed candidates were “winning 100 per cent” in a total of eight constituencies — one seat from Astore, one from Diamer, two from Nagar, and one from Ghizer. He alleged that due to “rigging, vote-stuffing, and the casting of bogus votes”, the PTI’s “victory” was overturned.

The PTI chairman said the party had demanded a re-election in Rehmanpur, Astore, stating that they had brought evidence of “167 bogus votes” to the presiding officer’s attention.

“The PTI rejects the process, results and vote count of this election,” the PTI chairman said, stressing that “once again, people who did not have the people’s mandate have been given a false mandate”, in an apparent reference to the 2024 general polls.

He also demanded that out of the six seats reserved for women and the three allocated for technocrats, the PTI should be given one from each category. Barrister Gohar also outlined plans to hold a protest in GB after consulting the PTI’s political allies.

Separately, the opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) held a consultative meeting under the chairmanship of Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Mehmood Khan Achakzai. During the huddle, the alliance condemned efforts aimed at “keeping the PTI out of the democratic process” in the GB elections.

In a statement, the TTAP called the GB elections an “action replay” of the 2024 general elections. “When the decisions are going to be made elsewhere, then what is the point of holding elections?” the statement said, adding that in the aftermath of the elections, “neither the election commission nor the electoral process had any credibility left”.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026