PTI's Sohail Afridi elected new Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly elected the PTI’s nominee Sohail Afridi as the new leader of the house after Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur’s resignation, ARY News reported on Monday.

The house elected Sohail Afridi, an MPA from Khyber region, with 90 votes as the new Chief Minister of the province.

A PTI member, Asif Mehsud, could not participate in voting owing to being out of the country.

The opposition parties boycotted the vote after Governor Faisal Karim Kundi objected over the resignation of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.

According to reports, a letter from the Governor has been received by Gandapur.

The Governor’s House received two purported resignation letters from the Chief Minister, “with signatures on both documents found to be different and inconsistent”.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has summoned the chief minister to verify the authenticity of the resignations. Ali Amin Gandapur has been called to the Governor’s House on October 15 at 3 p.m.

The KP governor stated that the matter will be resolved in accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan.

Four candidates had filed nomination papers for the election of the CM. Apart of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominee Sohail Afridi, Molana Lutf Ur Rehman nominated by the Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F). Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) nominated Sardar Shahjahan Yousuf and Arbab Zarak Khan respectively for the CM office.

There are 145 members in KP assembly while number of ruling party members are 93 whereas the opposition’s strength in the house has been 51. A total 73-vote was needed for the election of the chief minister while the PTI candidate bagged 90 votes.