Summary Maulana Asad Mehmood and PTI nominee Qasim Khan Suri are in the race for the seat of Deputy Speaker
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The voting process for electing National Assembly Deputy Speaker is underway on Wednesday at the Parliament House.
Joint candidates of opposition party Maulana Asad Mehmood and PTI nominee Qasim Khan Suri are in the race for the seat of Deputy Speaker.
The NA secretary was announcing the names of members one by one to cast their votes for choosing their favourite candidate as Deputy Speaker for next five years.
Each contestant has already conveyed the 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 results of the election after completing the counting process.
Former President and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari polled the first vote.
PTI enjoys support of its allies including Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), Balochistan National Party (M), Grand Democratic Alliance, Awami Muslim League (AML), Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) and Jamhoori Watan Party.
After allotment of reserved seats for women and minorities by Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), PTI’s tally in NA stands at 151. Adding seats of MQM-P, GDA, AML, BAP and BNP-M, the tally soars to 175. Two independent candidates have also assured PTI of their support.
On the other hand, opposition’s candidates enjoy support of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and Awami National Party (ANP). Combining seats of grand alliance, opposition can manage to secure votes somewhat around 150.
Asad Qaiser Sworn in
Earlier, PTI’s Asad Qaiser was sworn in as the 21st Speaker for the National Assembly amid opposition ruckus.
Qaiser bagged 176 votes while Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Syed Khurshid Shah received 146 in the secret balloting process. A total of 330 votes were cast among which eight were rejected.
Outgoing speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered oath to new speaker who will supervise the election of the deputy speaker for the Lower House of Parliament.
