Iftikhar Gillani AJK Nomination Filed Ahead of Today’s PM Vote

AJK – (Staff Reporter/Web Desk) – Barrister Iftikhar Gillani AJK is now one step closer to becoming the region’s next prime minister. He filed his nomination papers on Friday for the top office in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The move follows a day of internal party tension that ended with Nawaz Sharif backing him as the PML-N’s official pick.

Gillani did not win his seat through a direct public vote. He entered the AJK Legislative Assembly through a reserved technocrat seat. Even so, his name has quickly become the center of attention in AJK politics this week.

He was not the only PML-N leader to submit papers on Friday. Four other party members also filed nominations for the same post. These included a retired army officer, a doctor, and two other local leaders. Their papers were part of the same batch process laid out by assembly officials.

The full election timetable was tightly organized. Nomination papers had to be submitted within a one-hour window on Friday morning. Officials then reviewed each paper for about fifteen minutes right after.

A list of approved candidates was set to go up by late morning. Anyone wishing to step aside had a thirty-minute window to withdraw. After that, the assembly planned to release its final candidate list by noon.

Voting itself was scheduled for early afternoon, right after Friday prayers. Whoever wins is expected to take the oath of office later the same day at the Presidency.

Numbers matter a lot in this race. The AJK assembly holds fifty-three seats in total, but only forty-six are currently filled. Seven seats tied to Poonch and Sudhnoti districts remain vacant, since elections there have not yet taken place.

Even with that gap, PML-N holds a strong hand. The party can count on thirty-two lawmakers, thanks in part to support from an allied group. That gives it a clear lead over the opposition PPP, which holds fourteen seats in the house.

This contest has not been free of friction. Reports suggest some senior PML-N figures were unhappy that Gillani, rather than a more traditional party veteran, ended up as the nominee. That internal disagreement briefly delayed the assembly’s plans earlier in the week.

Still, with the numbers clearly favoring PML-N, most observers expect Gillani to secure the win comfortably once voting wraps up. His rise marks an unusual path to power, going from a technocrat seat straight to the region’s top office in a matter of weeks.

The coming hours will confirm whether he officially becomes AJK’s new leader, closing out one of the more closely watched political moments in the region this year.