Skip to main content

PML-N clinches speaker, deputy slots in Punjab PA

• Party nominee Malik Ahmad Khan becomes speaker, Zaheer Iqbal his deputy

• PTI replaces CM candidate Aslam Iqbal with Aftab Ahmed


LAHORE: A day after more than 300 members took oath as lawmakers in the Punjab Assembly, the provincial assembly lawmakers through a secret ballot on Saturday elected PML-N leader Malik Ahmad Khan as the custodian of the house and Zaheer Iqbal Channar as his deputy.


Malik Ahmad Khan, Sharifs’ loyalist from Kasur, and Mr Channar from Bahawalpur defeated the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) nominee Malik Ahmad Khan Bachhar from Mianwali and Moin Riaz from Multan for the speaker and deputy speaker offices, respectively.












The PML-N candidates were backed by their allies, the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q), and the Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party (IPP).


Out of the total 322 votes cast in the house, Malik Ahmed Khan secured 224 votes against 96 bagged by Ahmad Bachhar. Two votes were rejected. Zaheer Iqbal got 220 votes and Moin Riaz of the SIC received only 103.


As Speaker Sibtain Khan announced the result the house was abuzz with slogans of ‘sher sher’ (the electoral symbol of the PML-N). After the victory of Ahmad Khan, PML-N’s chief minister nominee Maryam Nawaz rose from her seat and congratulated Mr Khan.


After getting elected and taking the oath, he presided over the session and held the election for the deputy speaker slot, which was also won by the PML-N candidate, though with slightly fewer votes than Ahmad Khan.


Marathon session


The Punjab Assembly marathon session began almost 90 minutes behind schedule as both the PML-N and SIC — the new home of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) backed winning candidates — held meetings of their parliamentary parties to devise a strategy ahead of the speaker and deputy speaker polls.


As the session began both the treasury and opposition benches engaged in scornful sloganeering, with the opposition members targeting Maryam Nawaz with their ‘thief’ slogans and the treasury benches responding with ‘watch thief’.


During the session, SIC’s Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan drew the attention of outgoing speaker Sibtain Khan towards the non-allotment of women and minorities reserved seats for the SIC. Aftab Khan claimed the election of the speaker and deputy speaker would remain disputed as his party was not given the reserved seats.












The SIC did not win even a single seat in the Feb 8 elections, but PTI-backed independents have joined the party as part of an agreement reached between the two political parties last week. The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has yet to notify some members on reserved seats, including 24 for women and three for minorities.


New PTI nominee


Speculations that Aslam Iqbal arrived at the Punjab Assembly and was arrested by the Lahore police continued throughout the second day of the session. Earlier, the rumours had prompted Sibtain Khan to announce issuing his production orders. However, as Aslam Iqbal could not come to his house due to fear of arrest in the May 9 riots cases despite getting bail from the Peshawar High Court, he was replaced by Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan.


The election for the CM office between Maryam Nawaz and Aftab Khan is expected to be held on Sunday (today); there has been no official confirmation though.


PTI leader and former federal minister Hammad Azhar said on X: “As the police of the whole Punjab are present at the Punjab Assembly to arrest our CM candidate Aslam Iqbal, the party leadership in consultation with Mr Iqbal has decided to nominate Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan for the CM slot. Rana Aftab is the senior most member of the PA who in the past got elected PA member five times.”


Mr Azhar claimed that according to Form 45, the SIC/PTI had 212 MPAs while PMLN had 44 MPAs as a matter of fact. “The current number of PML-N in the house is a product of stolen mandate on Feb 8,” he added.


Published in Dawn, February 25th, 2024


http://dlvr.it/T3CltD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 drug pushers, bootlegger held

Islamabad :Islamabad Industrial Area Police have arrested three drug pushers and a bootlegger besides recovery of narcotics and 120 liter liquor from them, a police spokesman said.According to details, a police team of Industrial Area police station arrested three drug pushers namely Kamran, Irfan and Shamoon Masih and recovered 320 gram heroin and 210 gram hashish from them,.Another police team arrested a bootlegger namely Ansar Javed and recovered 120 liter wine, bottles, stickers and brewing equipment from him. Cases have been registered against these nabbed persons and further investigation is underway from them.SP (Industrial Area) Zubair Ahmad Shaikh has said that Industrial Area zone police is doing its job efficiently and crackdown against criminals would be continued.Despite the sit in, he said Islamabad Police has been performing its duty quite efficiently and has successfully managed to maintain the daily life in the Capital.In this regard, Senior Police officers including S...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘Aziz Bhatti Shaheed My Brother, My Hero’

Real heroes are heroes of every one. They are not controversial. Nations love them more than anything. Major Aziz Bhatti Shaheed is among those real-time heroes of 1965 War, who not only stood firm to face the enemy aggression but also repulsed it with his unprecedented courage. He gave his life while defending the frontiers of motherland but never let the enemy succeed in its nefarious designs. The proud nation awarded him with ‘Nishan-i-Haider’, the biggest gallantry award of the country. Now that more than 54 years have passed, since he embraced Shahadat, he continues to live in the hearts of each and every Pakistani. Aziz Bhatti is remembered with love and affection. Nation observes his Yaum-e-Shahadat on 12th of September in a befitting manner.This year was significant in a sense that his younger brother Sardar Ahmed Bhatti (95 years old now) presented this nation a book named ‘Aziz Bhatti Shaheed My Brother My Hero’. This book is classic and unique in a way that it unearths many ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Pragmatic steps taken to implement Axle Load Control regime on NH&MP

Islamabad: Ministry of Communications has taken pragmatic steps to implement the Axle Load Control regime on Motorways & National Highways in the country. Sole objective of this move is to control travelling of overloaded vehicles which lead to fatal accidents besides damaging the national asset of road network of billions of rupees.Prior to implementation of axle load control regime, a technical committee was formed, consisting of officers from Ministry of Communications and National Highway Authority which remained in constant contacts with transport community, Members of the Chambers of Commerce and stakeholders hailing from all the provinces. This technical committee visited their offices and held detailed discussions in series of meetings and took them into confidence to facilitate implementation of Axle Load Control regime. The stakeholders assured of their full cooperation and subsequently, implementation of Axle Load Control was realized which is in progress.It is worth to ...
Post a Comment
Read more