Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session has commenced to elect the province’s new chief minister after Ali Amin Gandapur stepped down from the key office last week.
Gandapur’s resignation, however, remains shrouded in controversy and ambiguity due to Governor Faisal Karim Kundi’s rejection of the resignation over signature’s authenticity.
The assembly session, being chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, has been boycotted by the opposition who staged a walk out after opposition leader Dr Ibadullah Khan saying that they do not want to be part of any “unlawful” process.
The province was pushed into political turmoil and uncertainty after Gandapur stepped down as the province’s chief executive on the directives of incarcerated PTI founder Imran Khan on October 8.
The former ruling party has since then nominated provincial minister Sohail Afridi as its candidate for the KP CM.
The nomination of Afridi, a young PTI leader who began his political career in 2015 and was elected as MPA in 2024 general elections, has prompted a strong reaction from the federal government, which has accused the PTI of having a soft corner for terrorists.
A day earlier, the KP Assembly Secretariat cleared nomination papers of four candidates contesting the CM’s election.
The papers of PTI’s Afridi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Maulana Lutfur Rehman, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Shahjehan Yousaf, and Pakistan People’s Party’s Arbab Zarak Khan have all been accepted, the secretariat confirmed.
However, with the polling set to take place today, Kundi’s resignation and Gandapur’s claim of resignations bearing authenticity has cast doubt on the whole process.
This is a developing story and is being updated with more details.
