PPP’s Akbar elected as AJK assembly speaker

Chaudhry Latif Akbar, a pacesetter of the Pakistan Folks’s Get together (PPP), was elected because the 14th speaker of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Meeting on Saturday. Garnering 19 votes, Akbar’s election to the coveted place was, nonetheless, not with out its share of controversy.

A dissident faction of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) occasion—comprising 11 members— opted to abstain from taking part within the voting course of whereas different members of the PTI and opposition boycotted the vote.

Akbar has beforehand served each as a parliamentarian and the chief of the opposition. A convincing help for his candidacy got here from the PPP and the Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). He took the oath of workplace from Deputy Speaker Chaudhary Riaz Gujjar.

Earlier, the ruling coalition, in a uncommon show of unity and dedication, efficiently overcame a big hurdle by introducing the fifteenth constitutional modification. Beforehand, the PML-N authorities had restricted the utmost variety of ministers within the AJK cupboard to 16 by way of the thirteenth modification.

Members of the ruling coalition—comprising the PML-N, the PPP, and the dissident faction of the PTI— nonetheless, eliminated this hurdle by a two-thirds majority. In a 52 member home, 40 lawmakers voted in favor of the fifteenth constitutional modification.

The PTI members occupying the opposition benches opted to boycott the proceedings, signaling their discontent with the constitutional modification.
Following the profitable passage of the constitutional modification, the stage was set for the election of the speaker. Initially, an enticing contest was anticipated between Akbar representing the PPP and Maqbool Gujjar, a PTI candidate.

Nonetheless, on the eleventh hour the PTI members determined to boycott the election course of altogether.