Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Thursday nominated Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani as the party\u2019s candidate for the office of prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nawaz directed Gilani to submit his nomination papers for the election of the AJK prime minister, PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb confirmed to Geo News<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aurangzeb said Gilani\u2019s nomination as the PML-N candidate for the AJK premiership was made with Nawaz’s approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gilani was elected to the AJK Legislative Assembly on the reserved seat for technocrats as the PML-N secured six of the eight reserved seats, further strengthening its position in the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The eight reserved seats included five for women and one each for technocrats, Ulema and Mashaikh, and overseas Kashmiris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PML-N won three of the five women’s seats, besides securing the technocrat, Ulema and Mashaikh, and overseas Kashmiri seats. The PPP won the remaining two seats reserved for women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n PML-N candidates Seharish Qamar, Maryam Zaman and Maryam Idrees were elected on the three women’s reserved seats, while PPP candidates Farzana Yaqub and Zobia Khurshid won the other two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one of the contests, Zobia Khurshid and Rifat Abid secured five votes each, following which Khurshid was declared successful through a draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides Gilani’s victory on the technocrat seat, PML-N candidate Pir Mazhar Saeed Shah won the reserved seat for Ulema and Mashaikh, while Abdul Rehman Arain was elected on the seat reserved for overseas Kashmiris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results took the PML-N’s strength in the AJK Legislative Assembly to 31 seats, while the PPP’s tally reached 14. With the support of one member of the Jammu and Kashmir Awami Dast-o-Bazu (JK ADB), the PML-N now has the backing of 32 members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, the government formation process is proceeding without seven members, as elections in seven constituencies in Poonch and Sudhnoti districts have yet to be held.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PML-N had already emerged as the largest party in the recently concluded three-phase general elections, securing 25 seats against the PPP’s 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the first phase, held in 13 constituencies of Mirpur Division, the PML-N won nine seats while the PPP secured four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PML-N further strengthened its position in the second phase, conducted on August 2 across eight constituencies of Muzaffarabad Division and all 12 refugee constituencies, winning 15 seats compared with the PPP’s six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The third and final phase saw results from two constituencies, with one seat each going to the PML-N and PPP, taking their final general-election tallies to 25 and 11, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The elections, however, were accompanied by allegations of rigging from the PPP, which questioned the conduct of the polling process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the second phase of voting, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari criticised the federal government and indicated that his party would intensify its political opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PML-N rejected the allegations, while Nawaz Sharif called on political stakeholders to refrain from turning political rivalries into enmity, expressing concern over the political atmosphere prevailing in the region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Thursday nominated Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani as the party\u2019s candidate for the office of prime minister..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leading"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615.png",800,927,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615-259x300.png",259,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615-768x890.png",768,890,true],"large":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615.png",800,927,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615.png",800,927,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paksouch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/11111-2026-08-27T184159.615.png",800,927,false]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Leading<\/a>","tag_info":"Leading","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12886"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12888,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12886\/revisions\/12888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paksouch.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}