Imran Khan, the former chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has chosen Ali Amin Gandapur as the next Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a province in northwestern Pakistan. Gandapur is currently the Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, and a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from NA-38 (Dera Ismail Khan-I).
Ali Amin Gandapur was among the three most favored candidates for the top provincial post, along with Dr. Amjad Ali and Mushtaq Ghani, both PTI leaders. However, Khan decided to nominate Gandapur after PTI secured a two-thirds majority in the KP Assembly in the recent general elections.
This is the third consecutive term that PTI will form the government in KP, where it first came to power in 2013 under the leadership of Pervez Khattak, who later became the Defence Minister in Khan’s cabinet. In 2018, Mahmood Khan was appointed as the Chief Minister of KP by PTI.
Gandapur belongs to a prominent political family of Dera Ismail Khan, a district in southern KP. His father, Major (retd) Aminullah Gandapur, was a caretaker cabinet member under former president Pervez Musharraf. His brother, Sardar Faisal Amin Khan Gandapur, is also a politician. Gandapur completed his early education at the Saint Helens High School in Dera Ismail Khan, and later graduated from the Gomal University in the same city.
Gandapur started his political career in 2013, when he was elected to the KP Assembly from PK-64 (Dera Ismail Khan-I) as a PTI candidate. He became the Provincial Minister of KP for Revenue and Estate in the Khattak cabinet. In 2018, he contested and won two seats, PK-97 (Dera Ismail Khan City-I) and NA-38, and joined the federal cabinet as the Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.