Muzaffarabad, October 23: Raja Farooq Haider Khan of All Jammu & Kashmir Muslim Conference Thursday elected as Leader of the House of Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
Farooq Haider defeated his only rival – Haji Sardar Yaqoob Khan, the outgoing caretaker Prime Minister, who was fielded by the four-party alliance.
The victorious Haider bagged 29 votes against his rival Yaqoob who secured 19 votes. A total of 48 out of the 49-seat AJK legislative assembly, the lower house of the AJK Parliament, exercised their right of vote to elect the new Leader of the House.
The outgoing care-taker Prime Minister and looser Haji Yaqoob Khan, while speaking on the floor, accepted the verdict of the house. He underlined various steps taken by his 9-month-long rule in AJK vis-a-vis the development and progress of the liberated territory.
Speaking at the floor of the house, newly elected Leader of the House Raja Farooq Haider Khan thanked the house for posing full confidence in his leadership by electing him.
Exceptional security arrangements were made in the AJK capital city especially in and outside the AJK legislative assembly.
The President of Azad Jammu & Kashmir had summoned the special session of Azad Jammu Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Muzaffarabad on October 22 at 10.00 am to elect the new Leader of the House – the Prime Minister of AJK.
48 legislators out of the 49-seat AJK Legislative Assembly choose the Leader of the House through secret ballot. One seat of the assembly is falling vacant due to the death of a legislator Sana Ullah Qadri.
The contestant groups had kept most of their respective like-minded legislative assembly members at undisclosed locations to maintain the sympathies of required number of the law makers to win the election.
It may be recalled that the outgoing Prime Minister Sardar Yaqoob Khan had resigned from the office on Wednesday last.
–Agencies