MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly will elect the 14th prime minister of the region on Monday following the resignation of incumbent Abdul Qayyum Niazi.
The unified opposition has nominated Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin, Kashmir president of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), for office. His candidature was approved by PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
Whereas, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has nominated Tanveer Ilyas for the post.
The ruling PTI has 33 members in the 53-seat House whereas the unified opposition enjoys the backing of 21 MPs.
Per the Constitution of the region, the prime minister will be elected by show of hand.
The assembly session has been convened at 10:30 am on Monday. Speaker Chaudhry Anwar ul-Haq will preside over the proceedings.
On Friday, the PTI convened an assembly session to hold the election but the opposition went to the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, insisting that the assembly could not elect a new leader of the House as the session was summoned to table no-confidence motion against Niazi. However, since he has already stepped down, the speaker could not hold the election in the same session.
They said the speaker was bound by the Constitution to wait for two working days after PM’s resignation, only then he could convene the session.
The high court stayed the election proceedings but the PTI went to the Supreme Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir against the stay order.
However, a full bench of the Supreme Court on Saturday ordered convening a separate session of the assembly for the election.
