Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf's Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was on Monday elected the 14th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in an election boycotted by the combined opposition.
The election was held in the legislative assembly presided over by Speaker Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.
The session was convened by President Barrister Sultan Mahmood under Article 16(3) of the AJK Constitution for the second time in less than 48 hours as the previous summary lacked the executive approval of the then prime minister.
Earlier, the ruling PTI had tried to conduct the election in Friday's session, which had originally been summoned for voting on a no-trust resolution against former prime minister Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, but it failed after the opposition challenged it in the high court.
As many as 25 PTI members in the AJK legislature had on April 12 moved a resolution for a vote of no-confidence against Niazi for his “failure to implement the party’s manifesto and ensure good governance” apart from other alleged shortcomings.
Today, the house met at about 11:30am, with participation from all but three members — one being an ally of the government and the remaining two from the opposition.
The combined opposition comprises 12 legislators of PPP and seven of the PML-N.
The opposition had nominated PPP’s regional president Chaudhry Mohammad Yasin as their candidate for the prime minister’s office but on Sunday night it announced it was pulling out of the contest.
Earlier in the day, the opposition addressed a press conference and expressed its intent to boycott the session prior to its commencement.
During the session, PTI lawmaker Abdul Majid Khan presented a resolution to suspend Rule 15(1), which stipulates a gap of two days between the filing of the nomination papers and voting for the prime minister’s election.
As the resolution was approved with a majority vote, the opposition objected to it, questioning the hurriedness of the ruling party on the matter.
Speaker Haq engaged the opposition for quite some time, allowing it to share its views on points of order.
However, when he directed the assembly staff to issue the schedule for the election, the opposition lawmakers left the hall in protest.
