Pakistan Peoples Party’s Syed Owais Qadir Shah was sworn in as the Sindh Assembly speaker on Sunday after he won the election with 111 votes against MQM-P’s Sofia Shah who got 36 votes. PPP’s Anthony Naveed was elected as the deputy speaker as well.

In his speech, he thanked PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former president Asif Ali Zardari, and Faryal Talpur for allowing him to serve in this capacity.

As many as 147 votes were cast for the election. The election was held through secret balloting. The session proceedings resumed today more than 30 minutes after the scheduled time. The PPP has fielded Anthony Naveed as a candidate for deputy speaker while the MQM-P has fielded Advocate Rashid Khan.

Qadir, who hails from Sukkur, stated that he was the first person from his city to become the assembly speaker. “It is a proud moment for my area.”

He cited that he was proud to become the speaker of the House that approved the Pakistan resolution and where the first governor general of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah sat. It was the same place where former prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan waved Pakistan flag.

“After sitting on this chair, I assure you that I will run the assembly impartially and in an unbiased manner,” he said and urged lawmakers to move forward and serve people who have brought them to the House through votes.

“You will get full time to speak, but I just request to follow the rule book and we can have achievement if we follow this book,” he said, “I am grateful as all my seniors are sitting here. I learned from Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and learned from Agha Siraj Durrani.”

He hoped that he would learn new things in Parliament and stated that problems would be resolved after discussion in the assembly.

Qadir expressed hope that the House would have achievements as it had in the past.

Anthony Naveed becomes deputy speaker

After the speaker’s election, PPP’s Anthony Naveed was elected the deputy speaker of the house. Naveed received 111 votes while MQM’s Rashid Khan received 36 votes.

Naveed is the first minority deputy speaker in Pakistan’s history.

He served as a member of the house on a reserved seat from 2018 to 2023 as well.

PTI backed MPAs refuse to participate in polling process

PTI backed MPAs chanted slogans against alleged poll rigging and refused to participate in the polling process for the Sindh Assembly speaker.

They also shouted turncoats when Ijaz Swati was called to cast his vote. Swati, who contested and won elections as a PTI-backed independent, switched sides and joined the PPP.

Lawmakers prayed for the soldiers martyred while fighting against terrorists after PPP’s candidate for the chief minister Murad Ali Shah requested the speaker.

The nomination papers for the slots were declared valid by the outgoing speaker Agha Siraj Durrani during the assembly’s maiden session on Saturday when newly elected representatives took oath as members of the provincial assembly.

MPAs elect from SIC, JI take oath

At least nine newly elected representatives from the Sunni Ittehad Council and one from the Jamaat-e-Islami, Muhammad Farooq, took oath as MPAs.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani administered the oath of office to them while three members of the Grand Democratic Alliance were absent.

PPP’s Shah said that welcomed those who took oath on Sunday and added that all the lawmakers would play a better role in the development of the province.

He spoke about a fresh increase in terrorist incidents in Karachi, citing that fighting terrorism would be a challenge for the new government.

Police have blocked the roads surrounding the assembly by placing containers while the road from Fawara Chowk to the Press Club has also been closed.

As many as 148 newly elected representatives including the chief minister-in-waiting Murad Ali Shah took oath as MPAs in the maiden session. Around 60 MPAs were sworn in as lawmakers for the first time.

Outgoing speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, who administered the oath of office to the newly elected representatives, also took oath as a lawmaker and thanked his party for bestowing him with the opportunity.

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Opposition parties end hours-long election rigging protest in Karachi

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Take alternate routes amid protests, roadblock in Karachi

Around 13 members of the opposition did not participate in the ceremony as they protested against the alleged rigging in the election.

Police had blocked roads after opposition parties announced protests against alleged rigging in elections, creating problems for the people.

The hours-long protest ended in the evening. The JUI-F cleared the Shahrah-e-Faisal as traffic flow returned to normal.