LAHORE: Punjab Assembly session has kicked off to elect the House’s speaker and deputy speaker. 

The second session of the newly-elected provincial assembly started after a delay of one-and-a-half hours on Saturday. 

The session saw the oath-taking of four MPAs, including Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Chaudhry Shafay Hussain and Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) Hafiz Farhat, who were not present in the House’s inaugural session on Friday.

Yesterday’s session marked the beginning of PML-N’s chief minister nominee Maryam Nawaz’s parliamentary politics, as outgoing Speaker Sibtain Khan administered oath to 313 lawmakers. 

Out of these 313 legislators, 215 belonged to the PML-N and its allied parties, and 98 members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). 

Today, elections for the speaker and deputy speaker are being held via a secret ballot under Rules 9 and 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, 1997.

PML-N’s Malik Ahmad Khan and Malik Zaheer Iqbal Channer submitted their nomination papers for the slot of Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.

Meanwhile, SIC members Ahmad Khan Bhachar and Muhammad Moeenuddin Riaz Qureshi submitted their papers for the speaker and deputy speaker positions.

More to follow…