Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq has been elected as the new Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir with an overwhelming majority. He secured 48 out of 52 votes from the legislative assembly, which is the highest mandate ever achieved by a Prime Minister in the region.
The election was held after Sardar Tanveer Ilyas of the PTI was disqualified by the AJK High Court for contempt. Earlier, the assembly had postponed a session without conducting the vote because no candidate had submitted nomination papers.
Following an emergency meeting held after midnight on Thursday, Anwar-ul-Haq was elected unopposed. He was the only candidate nominated within the 15-minute window provided for submission of 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 indicate that the PPP and PML-N are supporting his block.