PML-N bags AJK Assembly speaker, deputy speaker slots

MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) nominee Chaudhry Tariq Farooq was elected speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Tuesday as he secured 32 votes, while party nominee Ahmed Raza Qadri was elected deputy speaker with the same number of votes.

The election marked an important step towards completion of the formation of the new AJK government following the recent general election.

Farooq defeated Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Qasim Majeed, who secured 13 votes, to become the 16th speaker of the AJK Legislative Assembly.

Qadri, meanwhile, was elected the 15th deputy speaker.

PML-N President Nawaz Sharif had nominated Farooq for the speaker’s slot.

Farooq was elected from Bhimber in the recent AJK general election, where he defeated former AJK prime minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq.

The assembly’s election is currently being conducted without seven members as elections in Poonch and Sudhanoti have yet to be held.

The AJK Legislative Assembly has a total of 53 seats, including 45 directly elected seats and eight reserved seats. Of the 45 general seats, 33 are for constituencies in AJK and 12 are reserved for Kashmiri refugees living in Pakistan.

The eight reserved seats comprise five for women and one each for technocrats and other professionals, religious scholars and spiritual leaders, and overseas Kashmiris.

The PML-N has emerged as the largest party in the assembly with 31 seats, followed by the PPP with 14.

The election schedule for the speaker and deputy speaker had been issued earlier, following which candidates submitted their nomination papers on Monday morning.

Shortly before the submission of nomination papers, both the PML-N and PPP changed their nominees for the deputy speaker’s position.

The PPP nominated Qasim Majeed for speaker and Aamir Ghafar Loon for deputy speaker, while the PML-N fielded Qadri for deputy speaker.

With the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, another key stage in the constitution of the new AJK Legislative Assembly has been completed.