Ayaz Sadiq becomes NA speaker, PPP’s Ghulam Mustafa sworn in as deputy speaker
PML-N’s Ayaz Sadiq was elected as the speaker of the National Assembly for the third time while PPP’s Ghulam Mustafa Shah was elected as his deputy amid a noisy session on Friday.
In his speech, Shah thanked his party leadership and coalition partners for putting trust in him.
Shah was elected as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly with 197 votes while his opponent Junaid Akbar, from the SIC, secured 92 votes.
After the election, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to Shah.
Sadiq was elected after defeating the SIC’s Aamir Dogar. A total of 291 votes were polled, out of which 290 were valid. Sadiq received 199 votes while Dogar received 91 votes.
Sadiq walked over to Dogar to shake his hand right after the announcement of the results.
In his speech, PTI’s Dogar said that his party was ready for reconciliation if its “stolen” mandate was returned.
He urged the newly elected speaker to play a role in returning the PTI its mandate. “You played a role in 2013. We are ready to cooperate but first give our stolen mandate back to us and also our reserved seats,” Dogar said.
He claimed that he would have received 225 votes, if Form 45 was used to compile results in general elections on Feb 8.
After being sworn in as the NA speaker, Sadiq called upon both sides of the aisle to work together for the betterment of the country.
He appreciated Dogar for playing his part in the democratic process. “Amir Dogar sahib, you have always given me respect and called me ‘Ayaz bhai’. God-willingly, I will prove to be an elder brother.”
Sadiq referred to some of the PTI backed MNAs as “friendly brothers with whom I have a relation other than politics”.
He added that the government and the opposition were like “two wheels of a car”.
Nomination papers for both slots were filed on Thursday after 302 members of the house took oath as MNAs.
Newly-elected members of the National Assembly were sworn in as lawmakers on Thursday amid uproar from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) who raised slogans.
At least 23 reserved seats in the National Assembly have not been allotted to any political party.
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