Gulbar Khan, the leader of the forward bloc within the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), elected Gilgit-Baltistan’s new chief minister on Thursday. The election process faced controversy in the days leading up to the appointment.
Gulbar emerged as the uncontested choice for chief minister as three other candidates withdrew their nominations, leaving only 20 members present in the house. With 19 votes in favour, he secured the position. However, an independent lawmaker named Nawaz Khan Naji abstained from voting, while members from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supported Gulbar as the new CM.
In a display of dissatisfaction, all 11 members of the PTI’s ‘like-minded group’ decided to boycott the polling, alleging rigging in the process.
The need for the election arose due to the disqualification of former CM Khalid Khursheed by the region’s top court, on account of holding a fake degree.
After Khalid Khursheed’s removal from office, the PTI split into two factions: the forward bloc and the like-minded or ‘humkhayal’ group, with the latter choosing to boycott the election.
