PPP's Akhtar Abbas Nashad wins by-election in Skardu's GBA-09

PPP's Akhtar Abbas Nashad wins by-election in Skardu's GBA-09.

Key points

• Jamil Nagri Published September 6, 2026 Updated September 6, 2026 05: 12pm.
• According to the Form 47 issued on Sunday, Nashad received 8, 399 votes while his opponent, independent candidate Wazir Saleem, received 8, 094 votes.
• With this seat, the PPP will hold 15 seats in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly.
• The constituency recorded an overall voter turnout of 51.79 per cent in the election held a day ago.
• More than 800 police personnel, along with GB Scouts, were deployed under special security arrangements for the polling.

Jamil Nagri Published September 6, 2026 Updated September 6, 2026 05: 12pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

GILGIT: PPP candidate Akhtar Abbas Nashad won the by-election in GBA-09 (Skardu-III) by a margin of 305 votes after a closely contested race, according to official results issued on Sunday.

Notably, the constituency recorded an overall voter turnout of 51.79 per cent in the election held a day ago.

For context, the by-election was held after the GB Supreme Appellate Court disqualified PPP candidate Fida Muhammad Nashad – Abbas's father – who had been declared a returned candidate in the June general elections.

In the by-election, Fida's son entered the electoral fray and reclaimed the seat that had been lost by his father.

Notably, the by-election concluded after a highly thrilling contest, marked by a fierce battle between the two candidates that persisted right up to the final stage.

More than 800 police personnel, along with GB Scouts, were deployed under special security arrangements for the polling. While a local holiday was additionally declared to facilitate voters, the electoral process remained largely smooth and peaceful.

Analysts had remarked a close contest was anticipated between PPP's Abbas and independent candidate Saleem. They remarked Abbas could retain his father's vote bank and may benefit from public sympathy after Nashad's disqualification by the GB Supreme Appellate Court.

District Returning Officer (DRO) Hamza Murad informed Dawn on Friday that GBA-09 had 61 polling stations, of which 25 had been declared sensitive under Category A, 11 had been placed in Category B as medium-sensitive, and 25 had been classified as normal under Category C.

With this seat, the PPP will hold 15 seats in the 33-seat Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly. At present, the PPP has 14 seats, the PML-N has nine, the Istehkam-I-Pakistan Party has six, and the Majlis Wahdat-I-Muslimeen and a PTI-backed independent occupy one seat each.

Jamil Nagri is a Gilgit-Baltistan-based correspondent for Dawn with over a decade of experience in journalism. His reporting and feature writing focus on CPEC, climate change, the environment, and adventure tourism. He can be discovered on X at @jamilnagri.

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