AJK Legislative Assembly Convenes to Elect Gilani as 17th Prime Minister Amid PML-N Revolt

The Azad Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly convened in Muzaffarabad on August 28, 2026 to elect Barrister Syed Iftikhar Ali Gilani as the territory's 17th prime minister, under a schedule fixed by the Speaker's office: nomination papers filed 9:30–10:30am, voting at 2pm following Friday prayers, and the winner's oath-taking at 4pm at the AJK Presidency. PML-N's 32-seat coalition (with allied JUI and Awam Dast-e-Bazu members) against PPP's 14 gave Gilani a clear arithmetic path, but the session proceeded under the shadow of the intra-party revolt that broke out a day earlier: PML-N AJK President Shah Ghulam Qadir, the party's original nominee before Nawaz Sharif switched to Gilani, maintained he would boycott the vote, and former AJK PM Raja Farooq Haider likewise withheld his endorsement. The transition is also proceeding before AJK's four-phase 2026 election is fully complete — voting in seven constituencies across Poonch and Sudhnoti has yet to conclude, leaving roughly a fifth of the territory without directly elected representation as the new government forms, an echo of the 1991 precedent in which Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan also reached the premiership via a reserved seat.