GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly elected PPP’s Advocate Amjad Hussain as chief minister on Monday, just hours after the newly elected assembly members took oath.
This came after the PPP’s Imran Nadeem Shigri and the PML-N’s Malik Kefayat were elected as the assembly’s speaker and deputy speaker respectively.
Earlier, during the first GB assembly session, 30 members took oath, which was administered by outgoing GB Assembly Speaker Nazir Ahmed at 10am.
The speaker then adjourned the assembly proceedings till 3pm.
The session resumed at 4pm, during which the speaker announced the election schedule for the positions of speaker and deputy speaker, and gave until 5:15pm for the filing and withdrawal of nomination papers.
Ahmed also suspended the rules after getting approval from members to conduct elections for speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the House on the same day.
PPP candidate Imran Nadeem from Shigar and PML-N candidate Malik Kefayat from Diamer had filed their nomination papers; however, no other candidates filed nomination papers for the positions and the two were elected unopposed.
The newly-elected GB speaker took oath from the outgoing Ahmed and took charge of the position.
Assuming the charge of speaker, Nadeem thanked the party leadership and Assembly members in his remarks for electing him unopposed.
He declared Malik Kifayatur Rehman as deputy speaker unopposed, as no other candidate had filed nomination papers. Keyafat then took oath from the newly sworn-in Nadeem.
Imran Nadeem was elected to the Assembly from GBA-12 Shigar, having previously been elected as a member of the Assembly in 2004 from the PML-Q, and remaining actively involved in regional politics and public affairs.
Malik Kifayat-ur-Rehman was elected to the Assembly from GBA-15 Diamer-I (Tangir), where he secured victory against former chief minister Haji Gulbar Khan in the 2026 GB elections.
Nadeem later announced the election schedule for the leader of the House, gave until 7:40pm to file the nomination papers and withdrawals for the position of chief minister, and adjourned the session.
The PPP’s Amjad Hussain filed nomination papers, but no other candidate did so for the chief minister’s position. As a result, Nadeem announced at 8pm that Hussain was elected GB chief minister unopposed.
The assembly hall was overcrowded with the guests of members, journalists, politicians, visitors and VIPs, with the press galleries also crowded with supporters.
PPP Central General Secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira, GB governor Syed Mehdi Shah, and other politicians were present in the VIP galleries.
The supporters chanted slogans in favour of the winning candidates.
Earlier, newly elected members of the GB Assembly were sworn in by the outgoing speaker.
A total of 30 members took the oath as the first session of the sixth assembly convened in Gilgit. These included 21 lawmakers elected on general seats, six women members on reserved seats and three technocrats. The results for three general constituencies remain pending due to ongoing legal and electoral proceedings.
The session was subsequently adjourned until 3pm.
The assembly session was summoned for 9am on Monday for the swearing in of the newly elected representatives, and for the speaker and deputy speaker elections.
Following the June 7 election, the PPP has won 13 seats, the PML-N nine, the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP) six, and Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) and a PTI-backed independent one each.
The PML-N and the IPP had decided to support the PPP in the elections for the chief minister, speaker and deputy speaker. It should be mentioned that the PPP has announced that it would form a government in GB with the support of the PML-N.
