Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq has been elected unopposed as the 15th Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir on Thursday. He bagged 48 votes out of a 52-strong house - the biggest mandate in the history of scenic valley's legislative assembly.
The PM's election was announced after the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas' disqualification by the AJK High Court in a contempt case.
Earlier on Monday, the AJK assembly adjourned its session held to elect a new prime minister without the poll being held.
The secretary of the Azad Kashmir assembly has confirmed that the government did not submit nomination papers for any candidate of the premiership.
The sudden and unexpected development took place during an emergency meeting of Azad Kashmir's legislative assembly held after midnight when Speaker Anwar-ul-Haq was elected to the position of Prime Minister.
During the emergency meeting, 15 minutes were given to submit the nomination papers from 12:40am to 12:55am. The vote took place after Haq was elected unopposed.
Anwar-ul-Haq bagged 12 votes each from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and forward bloc and seven votes of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
AJK President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry has rebelled against his own party and created a forward bloc in the assembly. According to sources, Chaudhry’s forward bloc has the support of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
In his inaugural address to the assembly following his election, he said that he contested the election as an independent candidate, emphasising that he garnered the support of both the PDM and PTI members. Chaudhry also struck a chord with opposition parties and set a power-sharing formula in concert with them.
Last week, in a major setback to PTI, AJK High Court disqualified Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for contempt of court.
The decision of the high court came after Ilyas was summoned to AJK's supreme court and high court for using a "threatening tone" in one of his speeches.
The court declared Ilyas ineligible from holding any public office and asked AJK's Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Abdul Rasheed Sulehria to hold polls for a new prime minister.
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