Punjab Assembly elects speaker from majority party amid opposition clamor

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Punjab provincial assembly on Saturday elected Malik Ahmed Khan as speaker to run the legislature for the next five years with a thumping majority amid ruckus and sloganeering by the opposition.
Khan is a member of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party that secured the majority in the general elections in the country’s most populous province. The Punjab Assembly became the first house a day earlier to convene its opening session, out of five assemblies that went to the polls on Feb. 8.
The PML-N nominated Khan as its candidate for the speaker to contest against the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) candidate Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar in the 371-member house. The Punjab Assembly is the largest elected house in the country comprising 297 general seats and 74 reserved seats.
“Malik Ahmed Khan has secured 224 votes and elected to the position of the speaker,” Sibtain Khan, the custodian of the outgoing assembly, announced after the vote count.
Bhachar, the candidate backed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, bagged 96 votes while two votes were rejected out of a total of 322. The PTI-backed winners had joined the SIC to claim their share of the reserved seats in the assembly, but the issue is pending before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) which is yet to make a decision.
The process for the election of the deputy speaker in the house is currently underway. The election of the speaker and deputy speaker is held through secret ballot in the house.
The Punjab Assembly is scheduled to elect its chief minister tomorrow, Sunday, wherein the PML-N nominee, Maryam Nawaz, will contest against the SIC candidate, Mian Aslam Iqbal, who is yet to take oath as the assembly member. Iqbal is wanted by the Punjab police in multiple cases. He recently secured bail from the Peshawar High Court to take care of legal matters in Punjab.
“Tomorrow an election is going to be held and our nominated leader of the house could not come to the house to take the oath,” SIC legislator Bhachar said while speaking on the floor of the house and urging the speaker to let Iqbal take oath as member of the assembly.
“It will be your first good gesture for us,” he urged the newly elected speaker.
The speaker assured Bachar he would take a decision on the matter as per law.
“Don’t you worry about it,” he said. “I will ensure it as per law and traditions of the parliament.”
Earlier, the assembly session began with a delay of more than an hour and a half. The SIC members chanted slogans against the rival PML-N legislators who responded in kind.
The SIC lawmaker Rana Aftab termed the Punjab Assembly “incomplete” and vowed to challenge any move made by the house in the court.
He noted that 27 reserved seats for women and minorities were yet to be decided by the election commission.
The outgoing speaker Sibtain Khan said it was not his mandate to direct the election regulator to notify members on the reserved seats and suggested the aggrieved party to move courts if they were not given their share.
A heavy police contingent along with prison vans was also present outside the assembly to ensure the maintenance of law and order during the session.