PTI's Ali Amin Gandapur was elected on Friday as the chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) amind sloganeering and ruckus by PTI lawmakers and supporters in the assembly.
In the 145-member K-P Assembly, PTI backed independent candidates have 91 seats, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) has 9, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has 9, Pakistan People’s Party has 5, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P) has 2, and Awami National Party has 1 seat.
Speaker Babar Saleem Swati's multiple requests for order were largely ignored by the charged attendees. The session commenced after a delay of almost an hour.
The speaker asked Gandapur's supporters to proceed to Lobby 1 while his rival Ibadullah's supporters were asked to proceed to Lobby 2.
The hall continued to echo with chants in favour of the PTI candidate. AFter the votes were counted, the speaker announced that Gandapur secured 90 votes while his rival managed to bag 16 votes. The PTI's choice for CM was then declared as the 20th chief minister of the province.
Earlier, Gandapur vowed that the PTI government would restart the process of development in the province.
He said that the Sehat Insaf Card would be reinstated for the welfare of the general public and the law and order situation was also the first priority of his government.
“Bringing the far-flung districts of the province at par with the rest of the province in development is my top priority,” he said, adding that the backward districts would be quickly developed to address their deprivations.
Read Gandapur, leaders strategise for govt formation
“Let me tell you we will establish a lasting peace at any cost as law and order is also our first priority,” he maintained, adding that the province would be made attractive for foreign investors.
He added that there were many difficulties as there was a government at the Center which was against the PTI but still, they would try their level best to get the rights of the province from the federation, he shared, adding that without getting all the rights of the province it was very difficult to put the province on the path of development.
“We will negotiate the matter of the provincial rights with the federal government and solve this problem,” he said. “Ending the free medical treatment on Sehat Insaf Card by the caretaker government was painful for me as it concerned mostly poor people,” he said, adding that sanctuaries for the poor were also closed down without any logic by the caretakers.
As per data provided by the outgoing caretaker government of the province, the federation owes the province Rs3,000 billion as of October 2023. A breakdown of this massive number shows that about Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 is owed by the federal government in support of the net hydel profit of electricity, whereas the remainder Rs 1,000 billion is owed for the special package for merged districts.
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