Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq won the vote to become the new Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir. He received 48 out of 52 votes from the legislative assembly, which is the largest mandate ever received by a Prime Minister in the region.
The election took place after Sardar Tanveer Ilyas of the PTI was disqualified by the AJK High Court for contempt. The assembly previously adjourned a session without conducting the poll because the government didn’t submit nomination papers for any candidate.
An emergency meeting was held after midnight on Thursday, during which Anwar-ul-Haq was elected unopposed. He was the only candidate nominated in the 15 minutes given to submit nomination papers.
Anwar-ul-Haq received 12 votes each from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the forward bloc, and seven votes from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). AJK President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry created a forward bloc in the assembly and rebelled against his own party. Sources have revealed that the PPP and PML-N are supporting his bloc.
