PESHAWAR: PTI leader Ali Amin Gandapur, who is backed by the Sunni Ittehad Council, has been elected as the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister after securing 90 votes from the members of the new provincial assembly.
The PML-N candidate Dr. Ibadullah Khan, brother of Amir Muqam, secured 16 votes.
On Thursday, Babar Saleem Swati was elected as the speaker and Suraiya Bibi as the deputy speaker. As the house has a majority of the PTI-backed members, the session was calm. However, pro-PTI founder slogans continued to echo in the house throughout the session.
Swati defeated Ehsanullah Khan, the joint candidate of the PPP, ANP, PML-N, and the PTI-Parliamentarians.
Out of 106 votes, he bagged 89 votes while Khan polled 17 votes. Outgoing speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered the oath to newly-elected speaker Swati.
Later, voting for the deputy speaker slot was held. Suraiya Bibi, who won the election from Chitral on a general seat, defeated PTI-P’s Arbab Muhammad Waseem by securing 87 votes against her rival’s 19 votes.
The session was boycotted by the JUI-F. the
In the February 8 general elections, PTI-backed candidates emerged victorious with 86 seats, followed by JUI-F with 7, PPP with 4, PMLN with 5, and independent candidates securing 5 seats, out of which two joined PTI while three aligned with PML-N. The ECP allocated two women reserved seats to JUI-F, two to PMLN, and one to PPP.
It’s worth mentioning that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly has 30 reserved seats that include 26 for women and four for minorities.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already notified five out of 26 women seats, with notifications for the remaining 21 reserved women and four minorities seats pending. The electoral body is deliberating on the allocation of reserved seats to the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) after its alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
BALOCHISTAN
The Balochistan Assembly will elect chief minister on Saturday (tomorrow).
There is uncertainty in province as the PPP which is eyeing the slot “unopposed”, has yet to name its candidate.
According to sources, the candidate would be announced today (Friday), hoping the PPP CM would get elected unopposed like the Balochistan Assembly speaker.
