PESHAWAR: Newly-elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mehmood Khan took oath of his office on Friday at the Governor’s House.
KP Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra administered the oath to Khan.
On Wednesday, the PTI had grabbed the speaker and deputy speaker’s slots while the party’s nominee Mahmood Khan — former provincial minister for sports — was elected comfortably as the 22nd Leader of the House on Thursday.
Khan hails from Swat and holds a master’s degree in agriculture. He was elected from the PK-9 seat in 2018 and has been a member of the PTI since 2012. He has served as a minister for sports, irrigation, tourism and the provincial interior minister.
The opposition Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) had fielded Mian Nisar Gul to contest against Mahmood. The contest was one-sided as the PTI has a comfortable majority in the provincial assembly and grabbed the CM’s slot for a second consecutive term, unprecedented in the province’s political history.
The chief minister was elected through the division of the house system. All MPAs who supported Mian Nisar Gul’s candidature was asked to move to Lobby 1, while all in support of Mahmood Khan were asked to move to Lobby 2 of the KP Assembly building.
There was a headcount of supporters, with Mahmood Khan elected CM of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 77 votes to Mian Nisar Gul’s 33.
Newly-elected KP Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ghani presided over the proceedings.
After his election as chief minister, Khan said he was being criticised for the sake of it. He stressed that the party did not win with the support of the ‘third hand’ but because people placed their trust in Imran Khan’s 22 years of struggle.
Speaking about the next five years, the newly-elected CM announced a war against corruption in the province. The chief minister also promised to protect minorities and to invest in human resource, education and health.
He went on to say that the BRT and Swat Expressway will be prioritised under his leadership. “We will focus on revenue generation.”
On erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas’s (FATA) merger with KP, Mahmood sought the opposition’s support to resolve issues in accordance with the wishes of tribal people.
The 46-year-old has previously held the portfolio of sports, culture and irrigation in the province. He was also given the portfolio of KP home minister but was later removed from the post.