Joint candidate of the advance bloc, PPP, PML-N elected unchallenged; PTI suffers defeat as Anwarul Haq becomes new AJK PM.
Unopposed in the early hours of Thursday morning, Anwarul Haq of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ‘front bloc’ was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
A total of 31 legislators voted in favour of AJKLA Speaker Haq. This included 12 members of the progressive bloc, 12 members of the PPP, and 7 members of the PML-N.
On April 11, the AJK High Court disqualified Tanvir Ilyas of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), setting in motion the election of the prime minister. The highest court in the area ultimately agreed with the lower court’s ruling.
The current AJKLA session must include an election for prime minister per Article 17 of the AJK Constitution. However, the session was repeatedly delayed due to the lack of a unanimous vote.
The session was scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, but was postponed due to last-minute political wrangling. As a result, the speaker released a fresh election timetable late Wednesday night, and the meeting began at 12:40 a.m. Thursday.
Out of 52 legislators in the AJKLA, 31 are from the PTI, 12 are from the PPP, and 7 are from the PML-N. The PTI was only left with 19 votes after the ‘forward bloc’ did its damage.
