Following the 2020 Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elections, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as the dominant political party by winning 16 of the 24 directly elected seats. After the allocation of reserved seats, PTI secured four of the six seats reserved for women and two of the three technocrat seats, increasing its strength to 22 members in the 33-seat assembly. This gave PTI a two-thirds majority, making it the first political party in Gilgit-Baltistan’s history to achieve such a mandate. Subsequently, Khalid Khurshid was elected as the Chief Minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Election of Gulbar Khan
On 4 July 2023, a three-member bench of the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court disqualified Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid after determining that his law degree from London was fraudulent. The petition had been filed by Ghulam Shahzad Agha of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who challenged the authenticity of Khurshid’s academic credentials. Following the court’s decision, Khurshid lost his assembly seat, resulting in the dissolution of the PTI-led government.
A new chief ministerial election was held on 13 July 2023, in which PTI legislator Gulbar Khan secured victory with 19 votes. His support came from 12 PTI members, three members each from the Pakistan Muslim League (N) (PML-N) and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and one member from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) (JUI-F). The PTI members who backed him later formed a forward bloc in the assembly. Khan’s cabinet was subsequently formed with two ministers each from PML-N and PPP, one from JUI-F, and nine representatives from the PTI forward bloc.
Timeline
24 November 2025: The fifth Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly completed its constitutional five-year term at midnight. Under the law, elections were required to be conducted within the following 60 days. On the same day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appointed retired Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court Justice Yar Muhammad as the caretaker Chief Minister.
26 November 2025: Governor Syed Mehdi Shah administered the oath of office to Yar Muhammad, officially assuming the caretaker chief minister’s responsibilities.
2 December 2025: The Election Commission of Gilgit-Baltistan (ECGB) announced the election schedule and set 24 January 2026 as the polling date.
18 December 2025: Following consultations with representatives of 20 political parties during a multi-party conference, the ECGB postponed the elections due to severe winter weather conditions across the region.
6 January 2026: The caretaker government led by Yar Muhammad took oath, consisting of twelve ministers and two advisers.
11 February 2026: Former Governor of Gilgit-Baltistan Raja Jalal Hussain Maqpoon joined the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP).
11 April 2026: The ECGB released a revised election schedule and announced that voting would take place on 7 June 2026.
7 June 2026: Polling is scheduled to be held across Gilgit-Baltistan.
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