Election for Speaker, Deputy Speaker to be held today n New PM to be elected on Sunday n PTI-backed MNAs demand Imran’s release from prison amid sloganeering n PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq to contest election against PTI’s Amir Dogar for Speaker slot.

ISLAMABAD  -  As many as 302 newly-elected Members of the National Assembly, out of a total of 336, took oath dur­ing the inaugural session of the 16th assembly at the Parliament House here on Thursday. Speaker Raja Per­vez Ashraf administered the oath. 

After oath taking, the Speaker felicitated the newly elected mem­bers on their successful election. Later, the members signed the roll of members now. Meanwhile, Election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker Na­tional Assembly will be held today through secret ballot. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar of the Sunni Ittehad Council have submitted their nomination papers for the office of the Speaker Na­tional Assembly.

Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah of the Pa­kistan People’s Party Parliamentari­ans and Junaid Akbar of the Sunni Itte­had Council will contest for the slot of the Deputy Speaker National Assem­bly. All the nomination papers for the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly have been accept­ed. Leading political figures -- PML-N Quaid and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, ex-prime minister She­hbaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhut­to-Zardari, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Yusuf Raza Gillani, Abdul Aleem Khan, Barrister Gohar Khan, Ali Muhammad Khan, Omar Ayub Khan, Asad Qaiser, and Sher Afzal Marwat -- took the oath during the House proceedings.

Furthermore, three Senators — PML-N’s Nuzhat Sadiq, JUI-F’s Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, and PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani — resigned from the up­per house of Parliament in order to join the National Assembly.

Amid heavy sloganeering from both sides of the aisle, the elected members of the National Assembly took oath. The House, even before formal oath talking, witnessed heavy sloganeer­ing by the members from PML-N, PPP and independent backed by PTI. A large number of independent mem­bers (PTI members), holding placards inscribed with the picture of Imran Khan. Some of them were also wear­ing rubber mask with the picture of Imran Khan. The independent MNA including Omar Ayub, Asad Qaiser and Gohar Ali Khan kept demanding the chair to open their mic to speak on a point of order. The Chair, quoting the rules, did not give floor to them express their concerns. They chanted slogan demanding release of former prime minister Imran Khan currently incarcerated in Adiala prison.

Without taking floor, they raised the matter of reserved seats not al­lotted to them by the Election Com­mission of Pakistan (ECP). The young lawmakers from treasury benches also enthusiastically welcomed the entry of their leaders including for­mer Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, former Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if, former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. These lawmakers from both sides, ignored the requests by the Chair, to avoid raising slogans in the house and calmly administer oath.

A large number of supporters, sit­ting in the guest galleries, also tried to participate in the sloganeering match between the PML-N and Inde­pendent backed by PTI MPs, but the national assembly staff over the in­structions of the Chair stopped them.

“All Members should formally be­come member first by administering oath,” asked the Speaker National As­sembly to the members, before ad­ministering oath to all the members present in the House. 

According to the rules and proce­dures members one-by-one formally signed the roll. Most of the lawmakers, at the Speaker’s podium, after sign­ing the roll raised slogans in favour of their party. In a heavy sloganeering, when former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was signing the roll, a mask with picture of Imran Khan was also thrown in the air. According to the for­mal announcement, the election for the speaker and his deputy will be held be­fore noon today (Friday), and the pair will be administered oath the same day. The schedule for the Prime Minis­ter’s election has also been announced. The Prime Minister’s election will take place on Sunday, March 3, 2024.

Nomination papers for the Prime Minister’s position can be submitted on Saturday, March 2, 2024, by 2 PM. Nomination papers can be obtained from the Legislation Department of the National Assembly.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted until 3 PM on the same day. The Prime Minister’s elec­tion will be conducted through divi­sion. Former Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif is the joint candidate for the prime minister’s slot against PTI-backed Omar Ayub while Ayaz Sadiq will contest the speaker election against PTI-backed Amir Dogar. PPP lawmaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah will vie for the deputy speaker slot as a joint candidate of the PML-N and the PPP. According to the election sched­ule issued by the National Assembly secretariat, nomination papers for the office of the Prime Minister can be submitted by 1400hours on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Secretariat of the Nation­al Assembly on Thursday accepted the nomination papers from candidates contesting for the slots of National As­sembly Speaker and Deputy Speak­er. Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from the Paki­stan Muslim League-N submitted his nomination papers for the Speaker of the National Assembly slot, while the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) nominated Amir Dogar for the same position.

For the Deputy Speaker of the Na­tional Assembly slot, Ghulam Mustafa Shah from the Pakistan Peoples’ Par­ty (PPP) and Junaid Akbar Khan from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) submit­ted their nomination papers. The pro­posers for Sardar Ayaz Sadiq included Chaudhry Salik Hussain, Abdul Aleem Khan, Syed Naveed Qamar, and Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari. Malik Mu­hammad Amir Dogar’s nomination was proposed by Sahibzada Sibghatul­lah, Ali Muhammad, and Dr. Amjad Ali Khan. Ghulam Mustafa Shah’s nomina­tion for Deputy Speaker was proposed by Muhammad Raza Hayat Hiraj and Aijaz Hussain Jakhrani. Junaid Akbar’s nomination was proposed by Muham­mad Sanaullah Khan Masti Khel, Mu­hammad Riaz Khan Fatiyana, and Mehr Ghulam Muhammad Lali. The election for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly is scheduled to take place on Friday.