Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Saturday confirmed receiving the handwritten resignation of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur.
In a post on X, the governor stated that Gandapur’s resignation, dated October 11, was received at 2:30 pm at the Governor House. He added that the document would undergo “thorough scrutiny and legal formalities as per the Constitution and relevant laws” before being processed.
Gandapur, a senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader, had announced his resignation on October 8, shortly after the party nominated Sohail Afridi as the next candidate for chief minister. “In respectful compliance with the orders of my leader and founding PTI chairman Imran Khan, it is my honour to tender my resignation from the office of the Chief Minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Gandapur had written in his post on X. His resignation letter was delivered to the Governor House by Brigadier (retd) Muhammad Musaddiq Abbasi, the special assistant to the chief minister on anti-corruption.
Earlier, Governor Kundi had stated that Gandapur’s resignation could be returned if any legal or constitutional ambiguity was detected.
However, KP Law Minister Aftab Alam clarified that under Article 130 of the Constitution, a chief minister can resign at any time, and the governor’s approval is merely procedural.
Alam added that the KP Assembly speaker had been directed to move forward with the election of a new chief minister, regardless of delays in the acceptance of the resignation.
PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja confirmed in Peshawar that Gandapur’s resignation had been received, emphasizing that the chief minister was not a subordinate of the governor.
He announced that the KP Assembly would convene on Monday, October 13, to elect Sohail Afridi as the new Leader of the House, marking him as the first chief minister from the tribal areas.
