ISLAMABAD (PEN) : Elections of the National Assembly speaker and deputy speaker would be held on today (Friday) through secret balloting.
The proceedings for the speaker’s elections will be conducted by NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf who will also swear in the newly-elected custodian of the House after the results are announced.
Once the newly-elected speaker takes oath, he will then take charge of the house forthwith. Ashraf will, subsequently, step down from his position.
The new speaker will conduct the election of the deputy speaker immediately after taking charge.
The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which comprises mostly of PTI backed independents that won the elections, has nominated Malik Aamir Dogar as its candidate for the speaker and the political party has submitted nomination papers of Junaid Akbar for the post of deputy speaker.
Whereas, the allied parties have nominated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Syed Ghulam Mustafa as candidates for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.
Meanwhile, the NA shared the agenda for today’s session on social media platform, X.
As per the agenda, the NA meeting will begin at 10am with tilawat, hadith and national anthem. Then, the members-elect who have not yet taken oath will be sworn in and sign the roll of members.
After that, elections for the NA speaker, deputy speaker will be held.
JUI-F boycotts
Raising serious reservations over the 2024 election results, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has announced that his party would not participate in the elections for the top political slots — president, prime minister, and the National Assembly (NA) speaker.
The JUI-F leader, speaking to journalists in Islamabad Thursday, said his party would sit in the opposition and its lawmakers would abstain from voting during the upcoming electoral events in the assemblies.
In response to a question regarding JUI-F’s strategy for a protest movement, he said: “Wait for it. We will represent the nation soon.”.
