Gul Bar secures 19 out of the 20 votes cast by the members present in the house, as the three other candidates who had initially nominated themselves withdrew their papers.
GILGIT: (UrduPoint/Pakistan Point News-July 14th, 2023) Gul Bar Khan, the leader of the forward bloc within Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has been chosen as the new chief minister of Gilgit Baltistan. This decision comes after a controversy surrounded the previous polls for the top post.
Gul Bar secured 19 out of the 20 votes cast by the members present in the house, as the three other candidates who had initially nominated themselves withdrew their papers. An independent lawmaker, Nawaz Khan Naji, refrained from voting, while the parliamentarians of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supported Gul Bar's appointment.
The PTI's 'like-minded group,' consisting of 11 members, boycotted the voting process, alleging electoral misconduct.
The need for a new chief minister arose when the region's top court disqualified former CM Khalid Khursheed due to a fraudulent educational qualification. Subsequently, the PTI split into two factions: the forward bloc, led by Gul Bar, and the 'humkhayal' group or like-minded group, which refused to participate in the election.
Gul Bar Khan's background includes his origins in the Diamer district of the region. In 2009, he contested the first assembly elections on the ticket of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and successfully secured a seat in the parliament. During the coalition government led by the PPP, he served as the health minister.
In the subsequent 2015 elections, he ran as a candidate from the PML-N but was defeated, preventing him from becoming a member of the assembly. However, in 2020, Gul Bar was elected under the PTI's banner and once again assumed the role of health minister, working under the leadership of former CM Khursheed.
Following Khursheed's disqualification, Gul Bar formed the PTI's forward bloc and was elected as the chief minister on July 13, 2023.
