Estranged member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Haji Gulbar Khan was elected on Thursday as the chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan.

Haji Gulbar secured 19 out of 20 votes. Raja Azam Khan, Javed Ali Manwa and Raja Muhammad Zakria Maqpoon boycotted the election.

Subsequently, 19 of the 20 members present expressed their support for Gulbar. Out of them, three belonged to the PML-N, three to the PPP and one to the JUI-F.

Haji Gulbar had served as the GB health minister during the previous PTI government.

He replaces Khalid Khurshid Khan who was disqualified by the Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Court for allegedly obtaining a license from the GB Bar Council on the basis of a fake degree.

Khurshid took oath as CM in December 2020 after he was elected member of the GB Legislative Assembly from GBLA-13 (Astore-1) constituency by defeating PPP’s Abdul Hameed Khan.