Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Sardar Tanveer Ilyas was on Monday elected the 14th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir 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. On Monday, the house met at about 11:30am, with participation from all but three members.
