ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly session set up for the election of Pakistan's 25th Prime Minister is about to start. Members of the National Assembly (NA) are arriving at the venue with PPP members showing humongous hope towards success of their candidate.

Since JUI-F Chirman, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, has withdrawn from the election; only two candidates would be contesting the election: Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of PPP and Sardar Mehtab Abbasi of PML-N.

Live updates are as follows:

1930 hours

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf came out victorious in the voting and has been declared as the 25th Prime Minister of Pakistan. According to sources, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf bagged 211 votes as compared to 89 votes of his counterpart Sardar Mehtab Abbasi of PML-N.

1900 hours

The voting procedure had commenced with members moving towards the voting booths.

1840 hours

National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza initiated the proceedings which was followed by JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman and Naveed Qamar of PPP urging the Speaker to hold prayers for Late Fauzia Wahab of PPP. The prayers were not conducted because of the nature of the session.

The Speaker later read out the voting procedure, further ordering the Bell to be rung. The bell was rung for 5 minutes. The bell is an alarm for all the members to be seated before the proceedings commences and all the doors are closed once the bell stops ringing.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, formally announced that his party would not vote for the Prime Minister during the proceedings

1810 hours

Reports have indicated that the "oath-taking" ceremony with respect to the Prime Minister and the cabinet would be held later tonight.

1800 hours

Qamar Zaman Kaira and Maulan Fazlur Rehman have reached the Assembly building. Though JUI-F chairman would not vote during the proceedings, he is attending the session to witness the proceedings.