Khursheed Shah faces Asad Qaiser in first test of Opp’s muscle in NA

–Newly inducted MNAs to vote for NA speaker, deputy speaker as Lower House session begins at 10am

–PTI and allies have nominated Qasim Suri for NA deputy speaker while joint Opp has named Asadur Rehman for post

ISLAMABAD: In what will be the first test of the joint opposition’s muscle in the National Assembly and the PTI’s ability to establish its writ in the House, a tough contest is expected on Wednesday between veteran politician Syed Khursheed Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Asad Qaiser for the coveted office of Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

Qaiser enjoys the support of PTI, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP).

Khursheed Shah, on the other hand, has the support of the joint opposition comprising at least 11 political parties including the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), the Awami National Party (ANP), Qaumi Watan Party and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

Meanwhile, PTI and its allies have nominated Qasim Suri, a PTI MNA from Balochistan, for the office of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, while the joint opposition has fielded MMA President Fazlur Rehman’s son Asadur Rehman for the post.

Earlier on Monday, outgoing NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered the oath to 328 newly-elected members of the Lower House of Parliament in the maiden session of the 15th National Assembly, setting the stage for the country’s third consecutive democratic transition of power.

Prime minister-in-waiting and PTI Chairman Imran Khan and other prominent political leaders, including PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and former president Asif Ali Zardari were present in the assembly for the oath-taking.

After completion of the swearing-in ceremony, the speaker prorogued the NA session until 10am on August 15, when the new speaker and deputy speaker of the assembly will be elected.

ELECTION PROCESS:

As per the rules, if there are two candidates for the chair of the speaker, then the one who secures more votes will be elected. Similarly, if both secure an equal number of votes, a fresh ballot shall be carried out until one of them secures more votes.

And the outgoing speaker will take oath from the newly elected speaker and hand the charge of the House over to him. The newly-elected speaker will hold a similar secret balloting process for the election of the deputy speaker and after his or her election the latter will take the oath.

The speaker is considered custodian of the House and as per the rules he is supposed to preserve the order and decorum in the house and in case of disturbance or disorder in the galleries, may cause them to be cleared.

And subsequently, in the absence of the speaker, deputy speaker will have those powers to run the House.

GDA ANNOUNCES SUPPORT TO PTI FOR NA, DEPUTY SPEAKER:

Meanwhile, the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) on Tuesday announced to fully support the PTI’s candidates for the speaker, deputy speaker election.

GDA leaders Ghauz Bux Mehar and Fehmida Mirza announced their support after talks with a PTI delegation.

Fehmida Mirza, while addressing the media, appreciated the PTI for nominating candidates from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan for the slots of the speaker and the deputy speaker.

“Such steps will help address a sense deprivation of smaller provinces and we will collectively work for a strong Federation.”

Following this, Asad Qaiser thanked the GDA for their support and said, “The people have given a mandate to the PTI and it will work towards resolution of their problems.”

PTI IN LEAD:

PTI is leading the race of the elected MNAs in the House with 158 seats (125 general, five minorities and 28 women).

However, the candidates elected on more than one seat are required to vacate all seats except one, which will reduce the tally for PTI, leaving them to rely on the support of MQM-P seven members, PML-Q’s five, BAP’s five, and BNP-M’s four members.

PML-N is at the second place with a total of 82 seats (64 general seats, 16 women seats and two minority seats).

PPP is at a distant third with a total of 53 seats, with 42 general seats, two seats reserved for minorities, and nine reserved for women.