- PTI will protest “stolen mandate” outside assembly
- Sindh Assembly session called to meet tomorrow
- ECP partially announces reserved seats; 27 announcements still awaited for Punjab, three for Sindh Assembly
- Maryam to become Punjab chief minister as PML-N claims 199 seats in the 371-member legislature.
KARACHI, ISLAMABAD, LAHORE: The inaugural sessions of the Punjab and Sindh assemblies, which are scheduled for today (Friday) and tomorrow, respectively, will witness the oath of office being taken by the recently elected MPs.
In the meantime, the PTI intends to demonstrate against the purported vote-rigging that resulted in the party’s Punjab Assembly seats being taken.
The 18th provincial assembly’s first session was called by Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman on Thursday. This was in response to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s partial notification of lawmakers occupying seats designated for women and minorities.
The oath will be given to the next assembly’s members by Sibtain Khan, the speaker of the Punjab Assembly who is leaving.
In accordance with protocol, the assembly secretary will next declare a panel of four chairpersons, to be appointed by the speaker for every session, in accordance with Rule 13(1) of the Punjab Provincial Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, 1997.
In the event that the speaker along with deputy speaker are not present, members of that panel, in the order of nomination, are authorized to preside over house proceedings.
Following that, the secretary will make public the process for choosing the speaker as well as deputy speaker, as outlined in Punjab Assembly Rules 9 and 10.
The election of the new speaker along with deputy speaker of the house, as well as the chief minister, will be the next order of business after the session is adjourned and reconvened.
With 371 seats, including 74 reserved seats—66 for women and 8 for minorities—and 297 general seats, the Punjab Assembly is the most populous elected house in the nation.
Superior offices
Maryam Nawaz Sharif is the PML-N’s nominee for chief minister, and Mian Aslam Iqbal is the PTI’s opponent. Mr. Iqbal, however, is not available as he was reportedly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following his release on bail from the Peshawar High Court.
Similarly, the PML-N’s most likely nominations for speaker and deputy speaker are Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman along with Zaheer Iqbal Channer; the PTI has not yet disclosed its nominees for either position.
Experienced politician Mr. Rehman was Punjab’s provincial finance minister during Shehbaz Sharif’s government, and he has been elected for five terms in a row. The son of Iqbal Channer, a cabinet member in the Shehbaz government, Mr. Channer hails from Bahawalpur.
Punjab’s reserved seats
Elections for 296 general seats were place on February 8th, since voting for one seat was delayed owing to a candidate’s passing. In the first session to establish the 18th house, approximately 343 MPAs-elect will be allowed to take the oath of office, since the ECP has so far announced notifications for 42 seats that are reserved for women and five for minorities.
The PML-N won 138 general seats in the Punjab Assembly, while independents supported by the PTI claimed 114, according to the election results.
Out of the 23 other independent candidates who did not receive the backing of the PTI, one joined the PPP, which has already secured 10 seats, and 20 joined the PML-N, increasing its total to 158.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan, and Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party each received one seat, leaving the PML-Q with eight seats.
The PML-N has successfully obtained 36 seats for women and five seats for minorities out of the designated reserved seats. This brings its total number of MPAs to 199, comfortably surpassing the necessary simple majority of 186 members.
In the meantime, the IPP only has one seat and the PML-Q has two of the three designated seats for women held by the PPP.
In Punjab, PML-N women’s positions were given to Atiya Iftikhar ,Zakia Khan, Mariam Aurang Zeb, Hina Parvez Butt, Azma Zahid Bokhari, Salma Saadia Temur, Bushra Anjum Butt, Rahila Naeem, Sania Ashiq Jabeen, Kanwal Pervez Chaudhry, Mehwish Sultana, Nausheen Adnan, Asma Ehtisham ul Haq, Kausar Javed, Uzma Jabeen, Ambreen Ismail, Mumtaz Begum, Rukhsana Kausar, Motiya Begum, Sonia Ashir, Rabia Naseem Farooqi, Uzma Kardar, Tahia Noon, Safia Saeed, Amina Hassan, Shazia Rizwan, Asma Naz, Tahira Mushtaq, Sunbal Malik Hassan, Zaib Un Nisa Awan, Salma Butt, Fatima Begum, Qudsia Batool,Ishrat Ashraf, Riffat Abbasi along with Rushda Lodhi.
Neelam Jabbar Chaudhary, Shazia Abid, along with Nargis Faiz Malik are the PPP’s three female parliamentarians in Punjab; Tashfeen Safdar along with Saima Saeed represent the PML-Q. Sarah Ahmad of the IPP has been informed about the party’s one and only Punjabi female seat.
For 24 seats held by women and three held by minorities, the ECP has not yet sent out notices. These notifications appear to have been delayed until a court ruling on applications submitted by the PTI to be considered for these seats on the basis of its 114 independent candidates.
Moreover, the PML-N has been given five of the Punjab Assembly’s eight designated seats for minorities. Falbous Christopher, Ramesh Singh Arora, Emmanuel Ather, Khalil Tahir, along with Shakeela Javed have been awarded the non-Muslim seats.
Assembly of Sindh
In the meantime, tomorrow is the inaugural session of the new provincial legislature, where the newly elected delegates of the Sindh legislature will take an oath.
Governor Kamran Tessori of Sindh convened the first meeting of the province legislature late on Thursday, accepting the interim chief minister Maqbool Baqar’s recommendation.
The departing speaker or, in case he is absent, the governor’s nominee will preside over the assembly’s session to choose the next speaker. The assembly will choose a deputy speaker right away following the election of the speaker.
Without holding a debate, the assembly will choose one of its members to be the chief minister following the election for these two positions.
The PPP won 87 seats in the general elections on February 8th, which were contested for 130 general seats in the Sindh Assembly. The MQM-P came in second with 28 seats, the GDA with two seats, and Jamaat-i-Islami with two seats. Eleven seats were won by independent candidates supported by the PTI.
With a sizable majority in the house, the PPP may nominate its own speaker, deputy speaker, and chief minister without the help of any other party.
There are eight non-Muslim lawmakers and twenty-seven women on the partially notified list of women as well as minority candidates for the Sindh Assembly.
There are nine seats in the Sindh Assembly reserved for non-Muslims and a total of 29 seats for women. Of these, the GDA has only one reserved seat for women, the MQM-P has six reserved seats for women and one minority seat, and the PPP has twenty special seats for women and six for minorities. This indicates that there are still no notifications for the two women’s and the one minority seat that have been reserved.
Tanzila Umi Habiba, Seema Khurram, Rehanan Laghari, Nuhzat Pathan, Bibi Yasmeen Shah, Syeda Marvi Faseeh, Farzana Hanif, Sadia Javed, Sajeela, Rukhsana Parveen, Hina Dastagir, Heer Soho, Saima Agha, Nida Khuhro, Arooba Rabbani, Rooma Sabahat, Khairunisa, Shazia Umar, Maleeha Manzoor, along with Shaheena are among the PPP’s female legislators in Sindh.
In the meantime, the minority seats have been selected for Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Hamir Singh, Giyanoo Mal, Khatumal, Sham Sunder along with Anthony Naveed.
The following women will represent MQM-Pakistan: Sofia Saeed Shah, Sikandar Khatoon, Kiran Maqsood, Qurat Ul Ain Khan, Farah Sohail along with Bilqees Mukhtar. Their non-Muslim delegates will be Mukesh Kumar Hasija along with Aneel Kumar in the interim.
Fozia Kausar has been elected to the GDA’s lone female position.
PTI to denounce “rigging”
As the elected candidates for the Punjab Assembly prepare to take the oath in the assembly’s inaugural session today, the PTI intends to demonstrate against the purported huge manipulation used to steal seats from provincial assemblies.
The PTI leadership determined late on Thursday night that all of the victorious candidates, including Mian Aslam Iqbal, the party’s nominee for chief minister of Punjab, would be present for the first session of the Punjab Assembly.
The PTI’s general secretary for central Punjab, Hammad Azhar, declared on X (previously Twitter) that a protest march would be held in front of the Punjab Assembly by all the PTI-backed candidates who lost due to “rigging” in the results computations in Form 47s. Supporters and employees of the party would also participate in the protest march.
Mr. Azhar claimed that because the “PDM gang” was now accountable to the candidates who received a large majority of the vote, they would never be able to serve the interests of the people. “When people have the freedom to select their leaders, the lot of the masses will improve,” he stated.
The PTI leadership has been vocal in its opposition to the strategies being used to prevent Mr. Iqbal from running in the chief ministerial election and guarantee that Maryam Nawaz Sharif would be able to take over as head of the party.
A PTI official responded that the party-backed candidates were not required to take the oath on Friday when asked if all of the winning candidates will be present for the session. He went on, “They could take an oath at any time after.”
SOURCE: DAWN NEWS
