Former Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas announced on Thursday that he and several associates were joining the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), day after resigning from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The announcement followed a key meeting between Ilyas and IPP leader Abdul Aleem Khan, marking a major development in AJK’s political landscape.

Chaudhry Ali Shan and former health minister Ansar Abdali also joined the IPP alongside Ilyas.

Ilyas had resigned from PPP on Wednesday, submitting his resignation from the party’s basic membership to PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Party sources said the move followed differences over the distribution of tickets for the upcoming AJK elections.

He had sought tickets from the Central Bagh, Neelum Valley and Pachiot constituencies but was not nominated for any of them, with the denial of the Central Bagh ticket understood to be the key factor behind his decision.

Sources said Ilyas believed the ticket distribution process had not been carried out fairly and had expressed strong reservations over the party’s decisions.

He had said he was consulting close political associates and would announce his future political strategy at a press conference in the coming days.

Ilyas began his political career with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and became AJK prime minister following the 2021 elections.

He was later disqualified in a contempt of court case, forcing him to leave office.

He subsequently joined the IPP before moving to the PPP, and his latest switch marks another shift in his political career ahead of the AJK polls.