Iftikhar Gilani elected AJK's 17th Prime Minister

WEB DESK -- Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Iftikhar Gilani has been elected the 17th prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Gilani secured 30 votes in the election, defeating Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Sardar Mukhtar Khan, who received 14 votes.

Iftikhar Gilani first entered the AJK Legislative Assembly after being elected in 2011. He has also served as AJK’s education minister.

In the recent elections, Gilani was elected to the AJK Legislative Assembly on a PML-N ticket from a technocrat seat.

The PML-N had finalised Gilani’s nomination for the AJK premiership during a key consultative meeting on government formation in the region.

The meeting was attended by PML-N leaders including Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Saad Rafique, Shah Ghulam Qadir and Raja Farooq Haider, along with newly elected Speaker Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, Deputy Speaker Ahmed Raza Qadri and Gilani.