Former Gilgit-Baltistan chief minister Syed Mehdi Shah Wednesday filed an application in the election commission for recounting votes.

The PPP candidate alleged that in GBA-7 (Skardu-I) rigging went unabated. A presiding officer distributed ballot papers to ‘favourites’ before the start of polling, he said, adding that the local police was approached to book the officer, he added.

Shah took the step after his party chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari asked his supporters if they wanted to get votes recounted as the party’s mandate was ‘stolen’.  He was addressing during a protest in front of the local DC office against alleged rigging.

Bilawal was the first high-profile leader who landed in the strategically-located mountainous area on October 21 to mobilise the voters for November 15 elections.

“Do you want the recounting of every vote?  I am with you and your struggle. The government machinery was used to influence the elections,” he said.

The PPP head criticised the local election commission for, what he called, being involved in stealing the public mandate instead of guarding the public vote.

“We won’t let the selected steal our mandate. “We are receiving much pressure from voters; don’t force us to take extreme decisions. PPP is the only democratic and real democratic party,” Bilawal said.

Later, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz also cried foul and criticised the PTI, saying the Imran Khan-led party failed to secure a simple majority though it used the state machinery to manipulate the votes.

In her address at Mansehra on Wednesday, the daughter of ex-PM Nawaz Sharif said no one in Pakistan was ready to accept the fake result of GB polls.

Maryam said that she had stayed in GB for eight to 10 days for the election campaign and during that time the region was only voicing support for Nawaz Sharif.