The 2015 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elections were held on 8 June 2015. Elections were held in 24 constituencies, each electing one member to the 2nd Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. 269 candidates contested these elections, either representing one of the political parties of Gilgit-Baltistan (at the time of the 2020 elections) or being an independent candidate.

618,364 voters in Gilgit-Baltistan had the ability to exercise their right to vote in the elections and were able to vote across the province. 329,475 of the people registered to vote were male and 288,889 were female (a gender gap of 8%).

Background

In 2009, the Government of Pakistan passed "The Gilgit-Baltistan Empowerment and Self-governance Order, 2009, and the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari. This order renamed the Northern Areas as "Gilgit-Baltistan" and gave it a limited amount of internal autonomy within Pakistan and self-governance by allowing the people of Gilgit-Baltistan to have elections, where they could elect members of the "Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly". The position "Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan" was also made. The Assembly would have five-year-long terms.

The first Gilgit-Baltistan elections were held in 2009, and the Pakistan Peoples Party, who then ruled at the federal level as well, won the election by a large margin and formed the government, and Syed Mehdi Shah became the first Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Campaign and Polling 495 candidates from different political parties and Independents submitted their nomination papers out of which 50 nominations were rejected. 445 candidates took part in elections. Parties like Pakistan Muslim League (N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party stood candidates on all 24 assembly seats.

Polling took place on June 8, 2015 without any break from morning 8 am to evening 4 pm. Total number of 1143 polling stations were set up across the province. Out of 1143 polling stations, 282 were declared highly sensitive, while 269 polling stations were declared sensitive. About 5500 Military Soldiers along with 4356 policemen were deployed to perform security duties to make peaceful polling across the province.

Results The two tables below show the results of the elections. The first table shows the results for the elections across all 24 constituencies, and shows each political party's standing after independents joining different parties and the allotment of reserved seats. The second table shows the winner of each of the 24 constituencies, 6 reserved seats for women, and 3 reserved seats for technocrats. +PartyVotes%SeatsGeneralWomenTechnocratIndependents joinedTotal+/-Pakistan Muslim League (N)129,52634.171542122 +20Pakistan People's Party69,21618.2610001 -20Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf42,10111.1110001 +1Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen39,80010.5021003 +3Islami Tehreek Pakistan18,4914.8821104 +3Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)11,1482.9410001 -3Balawaristan National Front5,2591.3900011 -All Pakistan Muslim League4,4851.1800000 -Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan3,2370.8500000 -Muttahida Qaumi Movement5910.1600000 -1Other parties5,8421.54000000Independents49,33613.02200 -20 -Total379,032100.002463033-Registered voters/turnout618,36461.30Source:

By constituency ConstituencyWinnerRunner-upMarginRegistered VotersVotes CastVoter TurnoutDistrictNameCandidatePartyVotesCandidatePartyVotesGilgitGBA-1Jafarullah KhanPML(N)7,17136.38%Amjad Hussain AzarPPP6,29731.95%87430,39719,71064.84%GBA-2Hafeezur RehmanPML(N)10,73948.18%Jamil AhmadPPP7,17632.20%3,56334,22522,28865.12%GBA-3Muhammad IqbalPML(N)7,85235.38%Muhammad ShafiITP4,55520.52%3,29734,41322,19364.49%Hunza–NagarGBA-4Muhammad Ali HaidarITP5,03936.90%Javed HussainPPP4,09129.96%94818,81813,65772.57%GBA-5Rizwan AliMWM2,17128.43%Prince Qasim AliIND1,54720.26%62411,9927,63563.67%GBA-6Mir Ghazanfar Ali KhanPML(N)8,24241.18%Baba JanAWP4,64123.19%3,60136,41720,01354.96%SkarduGBA-7Muhammad AkbarPML(N)3,33129.09%Raja Jalal Hussain MaqpoonPTI3,33029.08%116,48411,45269.47%GBA-8Kacho Imtiaz HaiderMWM10,41148.41%Syed Muhammad AliPML(N)4,84122.51%5,57034,28121,50862.74%GBA-9Fida Muhammad NashadPML(N)6,20149.74%Wazir Muhammad SaleemMWM5,73045.96%47120,58012,46860.58%GBA-10Muhammad SikandarITP4,94932.44%Raja Nasir Ali Khan MaqpoonMWM4,93332.34%1621,80615,25469.95%GBA-11Iqbal HassanPML(N)5,16540.86%Syed Amjad Ali ZaidiPTI4,98539.44%18021,95812,64057.56%GBA-12Imran NadeemPPP10,42246.05%Raja Azam Khan AmachaPML(N)9,93043.88%49230,41322,63274.42%AstoreGBA-13Rana Farman AliPML(N)5,94236.95%Khalid KhurshidIND4,01924.99%1,92327,69916,08158.06%GBA-14Barkat JamilPML(N)3,99425.49%Abdul SamiJI2,37915.18%1,61524,45215,66764.07%DiamerGBA-15Shah BaigJUI(F)3,71322.87%FidaullahPPP3,55721.91%15627,08016,23259.94%GBA-16Janbaz KhanPML(N)3,62226.95%Abdul AzizIND3,16223.53%46027,93713,44148.11%GBA-17Haider KhanPML(N)4,18436.46%Rehmat KhaliqJUI(F)3,68932.15%49525,62211,47544.79%GBA-18Muhammad WakeelPML(N)3,76152.04%Gulbar KhanJUI(F)2,43833.73%1,32315,7007,22746.03%GhizerGBA-19Nawaz Khan NajiIND5,25926.99%Shakeel AhmedPML(N)5,15826.48%10131,25619,48262.33%GBA-20Fida KhanIND4,99122.87%Sultan MadadPML(N)3,36215.41%1,62934,40021,82063.43%GBA-21Raja JehanzaibPTI7,25239.17%Ghulam MuhammadPML(N)5,60230.26%1,65027,57718,51367.13%GhancheGBA-22Muhammad Ibrahim SanaiPML(N)11,38285.95%Amina Bibi AnsariPTI1,86014.05%9,52234,72113,24238.14%GBA-23Ghulam HussainPML(N)6,65751.07%Amina Bibi AnsariPTI5,71043.81%94723,28613,03555.98%GBA-24Mohammad ShafiqPML(N)5,22645.98%Muhammad IsmailPPP5,19345.68%3316,85011,36767.46%Reserved seats for womenSobia JabeenPML(N)Nasreen BanoPML(N)Rani Attiqa GhazanfarPML(N)Shireen AkhtarPML(N)Rehana IbadiITPBibi SaleemaMWMReserved seats for technocratsAurangzeb KhanPML(N)Muhammad AminPML(N)Muhammad ShafiITPSources:

Aftermath The newly elected assembly members took oath on 24 June 2015. On 25 June, Fida Muhammad Nashad and Jafarullah Khan, both of PML(N), were elected unopposed as Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively. Moreover, on 26 June 2015, Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman, also of PML(N), was elected as the 2nd Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan unopposed. He took oath on the same day.

References

External links Election Pakistan, retrieved 19 October 2018