Six million expected to vote in Gilgit-Baltistan polls

About six million registered voters are expected to go to polls on Monday to elect 24 members of Pakistani Kashmir's Gilgit-Baltistan legislative assembly.

All administrative and security arrangements have been deployed to conduct the elections, Dawn online reported.

Eight units of the Pakistan Army have been stationed in the region.

A total of 1,143 polling stations have been set up in seven districts of the Gilgit-Baltistan area and ballot papers dispatched to polling stations under the supervision of the army.

Polling will continue till 5.00 p.m.

A total of 272 candidates are in the run for the legislative assembly.

India has, however, slammed the elections terming it as an attempt by Pakistan "to camouflage its forcible and illegal occupation of the regions" and to deny its people their political rights.

The Gilgit Baltistan area of Jammu and Kashmir occupied by Pakistan covers 85,793 sq km. It was further divided in 1970 into two separate administrative divisions: Mirpur-Muzaffarabad, which Pakistan calls Azad Jammu and Kashmir, AJK, and the federally-administered Gilgit-Baltistan.