PTI’s Sardar Tanveer elected unopposed as AJK PM

KASHMIR: Sardar Tanveer Ilyas of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has been elected unopposed as the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) after the united opposition, including the PML-N and PPP boycotted the election. 

The seat of the prime minister was vacant since April 14 after Abdul Qayyum Niazi tendered his resignation following the PTI members’ submission of a no-confidence motion against him.

Earlier, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had nominated Sardar Tanvir Ilyas as the party’s candidate for prime minister’s office while the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) have jointly fielded Chaudhry Yasin.

President Barrister Sultan Mahmood convened the Legislative Assembly session at 10:30am on Monday (today) to conduct the election for the new Leader of the House.

As per the ‘number game’, PTI has a clear majority with 32 MLAs while PPP has a total of 12 MLAs in the AJK Legislative Assembly. Some 7 MLAs belong to former ruling party the PML-N, while Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party (JKPP) and the Muslim Conference (MC) have one member each.

Confirming the victory, the AJK Legislative Assembly secretary said that no one had filed nomination papers against Tanveer Ilyas. Prime Minister-elect Sardar Tanveer Ilyas is likely to take the oath of his office today.