MUZAFFARABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) regional President, Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhary on Tuesday elected as 28th President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) by securing 34 votes against his opponent from joint opposition Mian Abdul Waheed who secured 16 votes.
The newly elected president will take the oath of office on August 24 after the expiry of the outgoing President Sardar Muhammad Masood Khan’s tenure.
The election took place at AJK legislative Assembly special session convened for the purpose, with speaker Chaudhary Anwar Ul Haq in chair and a total of 50 members who cast their votes out of 52.
Those who did not cast their vote were Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) members from Kotli Ch. Yaseen and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) member and former speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir.
Barrister Sultan started his political carrier in 1983 after completing his education in the United Kingdom and was elected as the youngest member of the AJK Legislative Assembly in 1985 from the platform of Azad Muslim Conference, a party founded by his father late Ch. Noor Hussain.
He has the special honor to be elected 9th-time member of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from 1985 onward and was elected as President in the capacity of member legislative Assembly. The seat would be declared vacant after he takes the oath of his office.
He was elected as Prime Minister Azad Jammu and Kashmir from the platform of PPP from 1996 to 2001. He also served as Minister and opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly.
The newly elected President also headed many political parties like the Jammu Kashmir Liberation League after the Azad Muslim Conference, the Pakistan People’s Party, Peoples Muslim League which he himself founded and at present, he is part of PTI.