Voting begins in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan polls

Voters queued up on Sunday outside polling stations as voting began in elections in Pakistan's semi-autonomous Gilgit-Baltistan region to elect a new government for a five-year term.

Footage on local broadcasters showed voters outside several polling stations in the regional capital, Gilgit, and other cities, waiting to cast their ballots.

Voting stations opened at 8 am (0300GMT) and will continue until 5 pm (1200GMT).

Some 396 candidates are competing for 24 direct seats in the regional Legislative Assembly, with 266 of them independent candidates and 130 representing different national and regional political and religiopolitical parties, according to figures by the regional election commission.

The house has 33 seats, with nine reserved seats for women and political appointees allocated based on a proportional representation basis.

A total of 963,034 voters are eligible to cast ballots in the elections.

A close contest is expected between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, center-left Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of the slain Premier Benazir Bhutto and independent candidates backed by the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Thousands of police and paramilitary troops have been deployed across the region, which borders China, to keep order during the elections.