PESHAWAR: PTI-backed lawmaker Ali Amin Gandapur has been elected as the 22nd Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Gandapur won by securing a total of 90 votes while his opponent Ibadullah of the PML-N secured sixteen votes.
Voting to select the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) kicked off today, pitting PTI’s Gandapur against Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate Dr. Ibadullah Khan for the top provincial position.
PTI’s founder, Imran Khan, nominated Gandapur as the party’s contender for KP’s leader of the house. Gandapur enjoys the support of members from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), while Dr. Ibadullah has garnered backing from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P).
Gandapur had previously served as a federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan. He also held a ministerial post in the KP Assembly from 2013 to 2018. Dr. Ibadullah Khan, on the other hand, served as a member of the National Assembly and chaired the Standing Committee of Communications from April 2019 to August 2023.
The inaugural session of the KP Assembly witnessed the swearing-in of newly elected lawmakers on Wednesday. Following this, Babar Saleem Swati and Suriya Bibi, both backed by PTI, were elected as speaker and deputy speaker respectively, with Swati securing 89 votes and Suriya receiving 87 ballots.
