The election for the new Speaker of the National Assembly is scheduled to be held on Monday; the Assembly session for the purpose will be convened at nine.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for the Speakership Sardar Ayaz Sadiq filed his nomination papers with the Secretary, National Assembly Secretariat in Islamabad on Sunday. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Shafqat Mahmood and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) candidate Dr G. G. Jamal have also submitted their nomination papers.
A member who has been nominated can withdraw his candidature any time before the National Assembly proceeds to elect the Speaker.
Talking to newsmen after filing his nomination papers outside Parliament House on Sunday, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq thanked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the party leadership for nominating him again as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidate for the National Assembly Speakership.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif nominated Sardar Ayaz Sadiq as the PML-N candidate for the post of NA speaker during a meeting at the premier’s Jati Umrah residence in Raiwind on Saturday.
Nawaz was quoted as telling Sadiq to continue his efforts to maintain the status and decorum of parliament.
Sadiq said that a number of political parties, including PPP, JUI (F), PML (F) and ANP had assured him that they would be casting their votes in his favour. He said he was meeting different political parties and political leaders to seek their support.
Sadiq expressed gratitude to all parliamentary parties that had announced their support and intention to vote for him. He thanked Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PML-Q’s Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Awami National Party’s (ANP) Ghulam Ahmed Bilour and PML-Z’s Ijazul Haq, among others.
He said that if elected to the slot of the speaker, he would make efforts to conduct the proceedings of the Lower House in an impartial manner and would try to perform even better than his previous term.
To a question, he said six nomination papers were filed for him for speakership. To another question, he said almost all the political parties except PTI were ready to cast votes in his favour.
“Whether someone votes for me or not, I will not consider them a separate group,” he said.
Ayaz Sadiq was deseated by an election tribunal in August which accepted Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s petition challenging the 2013 General Election result.
He had defeated Imran Khan during the 2013 polls, and reclaimed his seat by contesting against PTI’s Aleem Khan in the NA-122 by-polls.
Responding to a question regarding the PTI leader’s call for speaker’s elections to be held before Sadiq was sworn in as MNA, he said that what Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said was “inappropriate”.
“If a party member wins an election and comes to the House, he is a stranger in the House until he takes an oath. You are aware of why he objected to the elections,” he said. “I wasn’t even nominated for speaker then. He didn’t want me to take oath and become speaker,” he said.
SUSPENDED MNA’S CAN’T VOTE:
The 11 Members of National Assembly (MNAs) whose membership has been suspended would not be able to vote during the election of NA speaker scheduled on Monday, according to Election Commission (EC) officials.
The EC has suspended membership of 11 MNAs for not submitting assets details among other reasons. They included Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani of JUI-F; Makhdoom Amin Faheem of PPP; Rashid Godel and Kanwar Naveed of MQM; Sajid Nawaz of PTI and Salman Hanif, Muhammad Moeen and Sultan Mehmood belonging to the ruling PML-N. The EC has banned the said MNAs from taking part in National Assembly sessions and in any kind of legislation.
