PML-N President Nawaz Sharif has nominated the party’s AJK Secretary General, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, for the post of Speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. According to sources, Chaudhry Tariq Farooq is expected to become the new Speaker of the AJK Assembly.
He will also assume the powers of the President of Azad Kashmir in an acting capacity until the next presidential election. Sources said Farooq will oversee the affairs of the AJK presidency until a new president is elected. His nomination for the Speaker’s position has reportedly been approved by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, 46 newly elected members of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly took the oath during the assembly session. With the oath-taking ceremony, the newly constituted assembly formally began its constitutional and parliamentary proceedings. Earlier, polling was held for seven of the eight reserved seats of the AJK Assembly and continued until 1 pm.
According to the results, PML-N candidate Barrister Iftikhar Ali Gilani was elected on the technocrat seat, while Pir Mazhar Saeed won the seat reserved for Ulema and Mashaikh. PML-N candidates Sehrish Qamar, Maryam Zaman and Maryam Idrees won three of the five seats reserved for women, while Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidates Farzana Yaqoob and Zubia Khurshid won the remaining two.
Zubia Khurshid and PML-N candidate Rifat Abid received an equal number of votes. Following the tie, Khurshid was declared the winner through a draw of lots. Meanwhile, no other candidate submitted nomination papers against PML-N candidate Chaudhry Abdul Rehman Arain for the seat reserved for overseas Kashmiris. He was therefore declared elected unopposed. All eight members elected on the reserved seats subsequently took the oath during the assembly session.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has secured six of the eight reserved seats in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly, further strengthening its position in the House. The PML-N won three seats reserved for women, along with one seat each for overseas Kashmiris, technocrats and religious scholars. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) secured the remaining two women’s reserved seats.
The PML-N candidates Maryam Zaman, Maryam Idrees, and Sehrish Qamar won the reserved seats for women. Abdul Rehman Arain won the seat reserved for overseas Kashmiris, while Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani won the seat reserved for technocrats. Maulana Mazhar Saeed won the seat reserved for religious scholars.
The PML-N’s Riffat Abid and the PPP’s Zubia Khurshid received five votes each. Zubia Khurshid subsequently won the seat through a draw. Earlier, Farzana Yaqoob had also won a reserved seat for the PPP. PML-N leader Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif also interviewed female candidates in Murree.