- Out of 20 members present in the house, 19 votes were in his favor.
- PPP and PML-N MPs also voted for Gul Bar.
- Voting started after Khurshid was dropped.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Forward Bloc leader Gul Bar Khan was on Thursday elected as the new chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, days after a controversy over his election to the top post.
Gul Bar, who got 19 votes out of 20 members present in the house, was elected unopposed as three other candidates competing for the post withdrew their nomination papers.
An independent legislator, Nawaz Khan Naji, abstained from the vote, with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPs supporting the new CM.
All 11 members of PTI’s ‘like-minded group’ boycotted the polls, claiming rigging.
The election for the prestigious post was triggered after the region’s top court disqualified former CM Khalid Khurshid for possessing a fake degree.
After his removal from office, PTI split into two factions – Forward Bloc and Like-minded or ‘we care‘ group, which boycotted the election.
Gul Bar – A Brief Profile
The newly elected chief minister comes from the Diamer district of the region.
When GB’s first assembly elections were held in 2009, he contested on Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam ticket and was elected to the Parliament.
The PPP, which formed a coalition government in the region, brought him in as health minister.
In 2015, he could not become a member of the assembly as the PML-N candidate defeated him.
Fast forward to 2020, he was elected on a PTI ticket and once again became the health minister – this time under former CM Khurshid.
After Khurshid was removed, he formed the Forward Bloc of PTI and was elected as the Chief Minister on 13 July.
