Acting Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri has rescheduled the election to the office of the speaker and announced that it would be held on April 22 (Friday) instead of April 16 (Saturday).

According to the National Assembly Secretariat, the National Assembly session, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, has been rescheduled for April 22 at 3pm.

The National Assembly Secretariat said that the schedule was changed by Acting Speaker Suri under rule 49 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

According to Rule 49(2) titled, “Hours of sitting and adjournment” reads as “Subject to the other provisions of these rules, the Speaker may; - (a) adjourn a sitting of the Assembly; and (b) if he thinks fit, call a sitting of the Assembly at a time or date different from that to which it was earlier adjourned and the change shall be intimated to the members through announcement on radio and television”.

The Speaker’s post has been lying vacant following the resignation of former Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser on April 9 — who announced to quit while refusing to conduct voting on the no-confidence resolution against Imran Khan last Saturday.

There would be secret balloting for the election of the Speaker as per Rule 9 of Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

The joint candidate of the allied government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is likely to be elected unopposed, if the resignations of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) are accepted. As many as 125 members of the PTI have submitted resignations to the National Assembly Secretariat.

According to the sources, the leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which has been offered the slot of the Speaker, will consider nominating former Prime Minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf or Syed Naveed Qamar for the slot.

It may be recalled that then joint-opposition had already submitted a no-confidence resolution against Suri, who is currently the acting speaker, and it is expected that he will tender his resignation before the axe falls on him.

According to Article 53, clause (7) sub clause (c): “He (Speaker/Deputy Speaker) is removed from office by a resolution of the Assembly, of which not less than seven days’ notice has been given and which is passed by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the Assembly.”

The sources said that for the slot of deputy speaker, Shahida Akhtar Ali of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Agha Hassan Baloch of Balochistan National Party (BNP) are said to be the front runners.

The story was originally published in Business Recorder on April 15, 2022.