Ali Amin Gandapur, a diehard loyalist of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan, was elected the 20th chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with a two-thirds majority on Friday in a provincial assembly session which witnessed vociferous sloganeering in favour of “Qaidee No 804”, a reference to the former prime minister who has been serving an extended jail term at Adiala Jail on several charges that his beleaguered party claims are all trumped up.
The election for the provincial chief executive was a face-off between Ali Amin Gandapur and the opposition’s Dr Abidullah, but ended up being a one-sided affair as Gandapur bagged 90 votes, while his challenger could grab only 16 votes. Lawmakers from Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s eponymous faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam stayed away from the process.
The assembly session, which started with one-and-a-half-hour delay, was officiated by Speaker Babar Salim Swati. He restricted the entry of unauthorised people into the house before the commencement of the session, while media persons were guided to the press gallery.
The speaker allowed absenting MPAs five minutes to ensure attendance. Soon after this hiatus, bells were rung in the assembly for five minutes and the main hall doors were closed soon after. Initially, four MPAs: Ali Amin Gandapur, Hisham Inamullah, Zark Khan, and Abidullah, had submitted their nominations for the chief minister's election. However, Khan and Inamullah later withdrew their papers, leaving Gandapur and Inamullah in the race.
Speaker Swati explained the election process whereby those voting for Dr Abidullah would go to Lobby No 1, while those voting for Gandapur would go to Lobby No 2. The speaker then summoned the MPAs back into the house to announce the results, whereby Gandapur was declared the winner with an overwhelming majority. Gandapur was formally sworn in soon after his election as the chief minister.
While speaking on the floor of the house after securing the office, Gandapur spelled out the priorities of his administration. He announced the revival of the Sehat Card, something that has politically benefited the PTI immensely in the impoverished province. He also announced the reopening of Panahgahs and Langarkhanas that Imran Khan had opened throughout the country for the shelter-less and the destitute as part of his vision for an Islamic welfare state.
The new chief minister called for immediate resignation of the chief election commissioner for his failure to hold transparent and credible elections. “I would offer myself first if any electoral fraud is established against me. Then I shall offer my province,” he added. Gandapur called for an audit of the vote, saying that stealing a mandate is not only a violation of the Constitution but also a betrayal to the public.
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Gandapur said that he was cognizant of the myriad challenges faced by K-P, a province wrecked by a deadly reign of the Taliban terrorism. He stressed the establishment of peace and security as the foremost task, asserting that without peace, a good roads infrastructure becomes irrelevant. He promised to reform those who resort to terrorism.
Gandapur singled out corruption as the most serious challenge that gnaws at the roots of good governance. He called on all elected representatives of his party to pledge under an oath that they would carry forward a crusade of their party chief against corruption in the province.
He said that nations could not stand on their feet by borrowing money from lenders. “We will increase our revenues by taxing the rich to provide relief to the poor,” he added. The new CM pledged to stand up for the rights of the province. “If we (K-P) are denied our due share, then nobody will be allowed to exploit our mineral resources,” he said amid thunderous applause from party supporters in the visitors’ gallery.
“If we are not given what belongs to us, then this august house should be ready to wrest its rights,” Gandapur said in a veiled reference to the federal government led by PTI’s arch nemesis whom it accuses of stealing its mandate in connivance with the powers that be.
Gandapur also expressed his gratitude to Imran Khan for reposing trust in him and assured that he would utilise all his energies to live up to Khan’s expectations. He lamented that Khan, who is a proponent of freedom, justice, and welfare of the common man, has been “unjustly imprisoned”. Gandapur demanded an open and fair trial for Khan. The PTI claims that its founder has been denied his constitutional right to fair trial and was jailed on trumped-up charges through unprecedented marathon trials in a haste.
The new chief minister, who himself is facing several court cases, slammed the system for not changing despite the efforts from the PTI. In the same breath, he warned: “If we fail to change the system, then the people will hold us accountable.”
Gandapur called on everyone to focus on the mandate given by the people and urged the opposition to raise their voices for the rights of the province inside and outside the assembly. However, he warned that if the opposition tried to create unnecessary roadblocks on the province’s march to progress, then his administration would deal with them accordingly.
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