Speaker administers oath to newly-elected MPAs in Punjab Assembly

The newly-elected representatives of the Punjab Assembly were sworn in after Friday prayers at the inaugural session of the 18^th assembly marred by a delay of four hours, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Outgoing Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan administered oath to the MPAs and later he congratulated all of them.

After administering the oath, Speaker Sibtain Khan urged those in the gallery to not ruin the occasion. “There is disturbance because of you. Please do not do this,” he said.

“And I am saying this personally that may God also give you courage to listen to each other patiently,” Sibtain added.

The speaker congratulated all MPAs on assuming their new role and wished them success.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz is all set to dominate the proceedings as it completed double century of newly-elected MPAs as far as the numbers game is concerned.

PML-N nominee for chief minister’s slop Maryam Nawaz and other newly-elected representatives have taken their oath in the assembly.

Panel of chairpersons

A four-member panel of chairpersons has been formed who are authorized, in their nomination order, to chair proceedings of the Punjab Assembly in the absence of speaker and deputy speaker. The panel, announced by the assembly speaker’s secretary in the following order, comprises: Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan — PP-179, Raheela Naeem — PP-304, Syed Ali Haider Gilani — PP-213 and Saima Kanwal — PP-260.

The elections for the Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker will be held via a secret ballot in a session of the assembly tomorrow (Saturday).

The announcement was made by the PA speaker’s secretary after the newly elected lawmakers took oath for their new role. He said that the elections would be held under Rules 9 and 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, 1997.

The secretary further said that the nomination papers have to be submitted to him before 5pm today. The scrutiny of the papers for the slot of the speaker will be done at 5:10pm while that of the deputy speaker’s slot will be done at 5:20pm.

Maryam Nawaz also chaired the PML-N Parliamentary Party meeting at the assembly.

A roar of slogans echoed in the House when Maryam Nawaz made her maiden entry in the house. PML-N MPAs carrying Nawaz Sharif’s photos raised continuous slogans as Maryam Nawaz walked into the house.

PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb also took oath as a member of the Punjab Assembly for the first time.

Speaker Sibtain Khan arrives late

The Punjab Assembly which was schedule to start at 10:00 am faced a delay of nearly two and half hours as Speaker Sibtain Khan arrived after 11:00 am.

Sibtain Khan said election for speaker and deputy speaker will be held on Saturday (tomorrow). He later announced a 45-minute break for Friday prayers, saying oath-taking will take place after the break.

PTI blasts police for stopping party-backed MPAs

PTI-backed candidates elected to the Punjab Assembly chanted slogans in favour of their party and Imran Khan, as they gathered outside the Punjab Assembly.

The newly-elected lawmakers, who recently joined the Sunni Ittehad Council as per the PTI’s directions, chanted “Imran Khan, Imran Khan” as they reacted to chants from their political rivals in the PML-N.

Earlier, the PTI has claimed that the Punjab Police is stopping its party-backed elected members of the provincial assembly from attending the assembly session.

In a post on X, the PTI urged the Punjab police chief to stop such unlawful activities and let the elected members take oath.

Punjab Police is stopping elected members to participate in Punjab assembly’s session, stopping them from taking oath.

IG Punjab should stop such unlawful activities, and let the elected members take oath. pic.twitter.com/ZHFIN7g2dm

— PTI (@PTIofficial) February 23, 2024

The PML-N at the moment has a strength of 201 members as it won 138 seats in Punjab and later on 23 independent candidates joined it. The ECP had also allotted 36 women five minorities reserved seats to the Nawaz League.
A strength of 186 members was a must to prove simple majority in the Punjab Assembly.

After allotment of reserved seats, PML-N has the support of 201 members with PPP’s 14, PML-Q’s 10 and IPP’s six are also ready to put their weight behind the Nawaz League, which the PML-N enjoys the backing of 230 members in the Punjab Assembly.

PML-N candidate for Punjab chief executive’s post is Maryam Nawaz while the rival PTI has named Mian Aslam Iqbal for the chief minister’s slot.
After the elections of speaker and deputy speaker, the MPAs will vote to elect a leader of the House and the contest appeared to be a one-sided affair as PML-N has more than enough votes now.

The PTI, meanwhile, plans to protest the alleged snatching of the party’s Pun­jab Assembly seats through rigging.

The Punjab Assembly is the largest elected house in the country, with 371 seats, comprising 297 general seats and 74 reserved seats, including 66 for women and eight for minorities.

PML-N’s Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman and Zaheer Iqbal Channer are the most likely candidates for the speaker and deputy speaker slots, while the PTI has yet to announce its nominees for the two offices.

The ECP on Thursday issued notifications for 42 reserved seats for women and five for minorities, around 343 MPAs-elect will be able to take the oath of their offices in the first session to bring the 18th house into being.

According to election results, the PML-N secured 137 general seats in the Punjab Assembly, while PTI-backed independents claimed 114. Of the notified reserved seats, the PML-N has secured 36 seats for women and five seats for minorities. Meanwhile, PPP has three reserved seats for women, two have gone to the PML-Q and the IPP has just one seat.

In Punjab, PML-N women’s seats have gone to Zakia Khan, Ishrat Ashraf, Mariam Aurang Zeb, Azma Zahid Bokhari, Hina Parvez Butt, Salma Saadia Temur, Rahila Naeem, Bushra Anjum Butt, Sania Ashiq Jabeen, Salma Butt, Kanwal Pervez Chaudhry, Mehwish Sultana, Nausheen Adnan, Asma Ehtisham ul Haq, Kausar Javed, Uzma Jabeen, Ambreen Ismail, Mumtaz Begum, Sunbal Malik Hassan, Rukhsana Kausar, Shazia Rizwan, Motiya Begum, Rabia Naseem Farooqi, Sonia Ashir, Uzma Kardar, Safia Saeed, Tahia Noon, Amina Hassan, Asma Naz, Tahira Mushtaq, Zaib Un Nisa Awan, Fatima Begum, Qudsia Batool, Riffat Abbasi, Atiya Iftikhar and Rushda Lodhi.

The PPP women lawmakers in Punjab are Shazia Abid, Neelam Jabbar Chaudhary and Nargis Faiz Malik, while the PML-Q will have Tashfeen Safdar and Saima Saeed in the assembly. The IPP’s Sarah Ahmad has been notified on the party’s only seat for women in Punjab.

The ECP has yet to issue notifications for 24 women seats and three for minorities. Apparently, these notifications have been withheld until a court decision on petitions filed by the PTI to claim these seats based on its 114 independent candidates.

In addition, out of the total eight reserved seats for minorities in Punjab Assembly, five have been allocated to the PML-N. The non-Muslim seats have gone to Falbous Christopher, Emmanuel Ather, Ramesh Singh Arora, Khalil Tahir and Shakeela Javed.

The PTI planned to protest the alleged snatching of provincial assembly seats through massive rigging. The PTI leadership decided that all party-backed winning candidates led by the party’s nominee for Punjab chief ministership, Aslam Iqbal, will attend the Punjab Assembly’s maiden session.

Hammad Azhar, PTI’s general secretary for central Punjab, announced on X (formerly Twitter) that all the PTI-backed candidates who were defeated through “rigging” in the results calculations in Form 47s would stage a protest demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly. Party workers and supporters would also join the protest demonstration.

Reporters Rao Dilshad and Hassan Ali