Islamabad (August 15, 2018): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Leader, Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday has said that alliance of PPP and PML-N is unnatural.
Talking to the newsmen outside the Parliament House today, Qureshi said differences have emerged between Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz over the name of the opposition leader in the National Assembly.
He added that PTI members are committed with the Party Chief, Imran Khan for “Naya Pakistan”, he hoped that candidates of PTI will win today’s election of Speaker and the deputy speaker of the house. 
Meanwhile, 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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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.
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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