Overview
- Sohail Afridi secured 90 votes in the 145-member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, clearing the 73-vote threshold under tight security in Peshawar.
- Opposition parties walked out of the session, calling the election unconstitutional because the outgoing chief minister’s resignation has not been formally accepted.
- Governor Faisal Karim Kundi returned Ali Amin Gandapur’s resignation letters over inconsistent signatures and summoned him for verification on Oct. 15.
- In his maiden address, Afridi rejected military operations as a counterterrorism solution and vowed to push for Imran Khan’s release, warning of nationwide protests if the jailed leader is moved without family consent.
- Federal figures escalated criticism, with the military’s media wing having cited a “political-criminal nexus” in rising militancy and Adviser Rana Sanaullah arguing Afridi’s speech defied constitutional norms.