Gilgit-Baltistan fixes December 5 for municipal corporation polls

Gilgit-Baltistan will hold municipal corporation elections on December 5, according to a report by Minute Mirror, which said the polling date for the region's local government bodies has been set.

The report gave the date but did not say which authority issued the schedule, when the notification was made public, or how many municipal corporations, wards and registered voters the exercise will cover. It also did not name the officials who took the decision.

Municipal corporation polls decide who sits on the urban local bodies that handle services such as sanitation, water supply, street lighting, building permissions and local levies in the region's towns. A date for the vote is the first step in a process that normally also involves the publication of ward lists, the finalisation of electoral rolls, the filing of nomination papers, scrutiny and the allotment of symbols.

None of those stages were described in the report, and it was not clear whether the December 5 date is a final notification or a target the election authorities intend to work towards.

Skardu Times could not independently confirm the date. The report carried no statement from the Gilgit-Baltistan government, the election commission or any political party in the region, and no comment on the schedule was available from any of them.

The region has an elected assembly and government, and its local government system has been the subject of repeated disputes over the powers and funding given to lower-tier bodies. With the polling date now circulating, attention is likely to turn to whether the schedule is formally notified and how much time parties are given to campaign.

This report will be updated if the notification, the number of corporations or a statement from the authorities becomes available.