Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq has been unanimously elected as the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in a sudden and unexpected turn of events on Thursday.

The development took place after the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Sardar Tanveer Ilyas by the AJK High Court in a contempt case.

Earlier this week, on Monday, an assembly session held to elect a new prime minister was adjourned without any polling taking place. The Secretary of the Azad Kashmir assembly confirmed that no nomination papers were submitted for any other candidate of the premiership.

The emergency meeting of the AJK legislative assembly was held after midnight when Speaker Anwar-ul-Haq was elected to the position of Prime Minister.

The nomination papers were given 15 minutes to be submitted, and the vote took place after Haq was elected unopposed. Anwar-ul-Haq received 12 votes each from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and forward bloc and seven votes from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

AJK President Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry created a forward bloc in the assembly, rebelling against his own party. According to sources, Chaudhry’s forward bloc has the support of the PPP and PML-N.

Last week, the AJK High Court disqualified Sardar Tanveer Ilyas for contempt of court, which was a major setback for the PTI. The court declared Ilyas ineligible for holding any public office and asked AJK’s Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Abdul Rasheed Sulehria to hold polls for his successor as prime minister. The court’s decision came after Ilyas was summoned to AJK’s supreme court and high court for using a “threatening tone” in one of his speeches.