Islamabad (August 15, 2018): The election for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker National Assembly will be held today
PTI led alliance has fielded former Speaker KP Asad Qaiser for Speaker, while Asad Suri for the Deputy Speaker slot. On the other hand, joint opposition has named PPP’s Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah for Speaker and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl’s Asad Mehmood for deputy speaker slot.
The tough competition is expected because PTI and the joint opposition – PPP, PML-N and MMA – now had equal votes in the National Assembly after PTI leaders vacated various seats they had won in the general election.
Four candidates are in the run for the election of speaker and deputy speaker of Lower House of the Parliament.
For the slot of deputy speaker, Maulana Asad Mehmood and PTI nominee Qasim Khan Suri will face each other.
The name of Khursheed Shah was proposed by Naveed Qamar seconded by Shahida Ramani while the name of Asad Qaiser was proposed by Riaz Fatyana and seconded by Omar Ayub.
After the scrutiny, nomination papers of all the four candidates were declared clear.
Shah is being backed by PPP, PML-N, MMA, ANP while Qaiser has the support of PTI, BAP, BNP and MQM.
Both the candidates Khursheed Shah and Asad Qaiser, after submitting their nomination papers expressed the hope for their victory and resolve to uphold supremacy of the parliament.
Earlier, the deadline to submit nomination papers for slots of speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly ended Tuesday.
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Former speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Asad Qaiser, submitted his nomination papers from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, while Pakistan Peoples Party’s Khursheed Shah submitted his details from the joint opposition.
On the other hand, nomination papers for the slot of deputy speaker were submitted by Qasim Suri from PTI and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl’s Asad Mehmood from the joint opposition.
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After submitting nomination papers for the election of Speaker at the National Assembly Secretariat he spoke to media and said that he is confident of his victory in the election. He pointed out that he is member of the parliament for over three decades and he has good relations with the elected representatives.
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Meanwhile, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Tuesday announced to fully support the PTI’s Candidate for the elections of the speaker, deputy speaker and the leader of the house.
GDA leaders Ghauz Bux Mehar and Fehmida Mirza announced their support following the talks with a PTI delegation led by its candidate for speaker Asad Qaiser in Islamabad.
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Later talking to the media persons, Fehmida Mirza appreciated the PTI for nominating candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan for the slots of the speaker and the deputy speaker.
She said such steps will help address sense of deprivation of smaller provinces. She said we will collectively work for a strong federation.
In his remarks on the occasion, Asad Qaiser thanked the GDA leadership for their support.
Asad Qaiser said the people have given a mandate to the PTI and it will work towards resolution of their problems.
PTI Accuses Joint Opposition for Horse Trading
PTI accused opposition of trying to lure some of its lawmakers away by making “lucrative offers” for their votes in the election for the posts of the speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly.
PTI leaders are worried mainly because of two reasons – the secret balloting and slim majority it holds over the combined opposition’s total strength.
PTI’s Vice-Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi warned that “it will be unfortunate if the voting pattern witnessed during the Senate election is repeated”.
“It is everyone’s right to seek lawmakers’ support in favour of a candidate, but we do not want anyone to buy vote(s),” Qureshi said.“PTI has the required numbers. We are confident that our nominees will win if MNAs voted in accordance with their conscience,” he said, adding that the opposition alliance was unnatural and would not last long.
PTI’s spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry said: “PTI knows that some MNAs have been approached in connection with the election for the posts of the speaker and deputy speaker,” he said, adding the party would conduct an inquiry into the affair.
Another senior party leader said that PTI’s allies complained that representatives of the combined opposition had made overtures for securing votes of their MNAs.
He said after receiving these reports, PTI leaders were re-engaging with their allies, holding talks to avoid any surprise outcome in the election.
PTI and the joint opposition – PPP, PML-N and MMA – now had equal votes in the National Assembly after PTI leaders vacated various seats they had won in the general election.
Earlier, on Monday, newly elected MNAs and MPAs took oath in the National Assembly and respective provincial assemblies.
The National Assembly session marked the third consecutive democratic transition of power in Pakistan. Outgoing NA speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered oath to the newly-elected members. This was followed by signing of the ‘Roll of Members’.
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A total of 324 MNAs took the oath, with five more yet to do so. PTI chairperson Imran Khan, who is set to become the country’s next prime minister, was among those sworn in, along with other prominent leaders including PPP’s Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Asif Zardari, and PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.
Strict security arrangements were made for the occasion as at least a thousand security men were deployed in and outside the parliament building.
The Constitution makes it mandatory to convene NA session within 21 days of general elections. After the oath-taking ceremony, the speaker prorogued the NA session until August 15, when the new speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly will be elected.
Electoral Procedure
The election of the speaker and deputy speaker will be held through secret balloting. In the first phase, the election of the speaker will be held. Soon after the start of the assembly session, the voting process will start and no member will be allowed to take picture of the ballot paper.
The NA secretary will give ballot papers to members of the parliament for voting. Before election, each contestant will convey names of his two agents to the speaker.
In the presence of polling agents, counting of the vote will take place and the speaker will announce the results of the election after the counting is completed.
After the result, the outing going speaker will take oath from the newly elected speaker.
The new speaker by following the whole process will conduct the election of the deputy speaker.
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