• PTI and PML-Q jointly field Sibtain Khan, while Opposition nominates Saif ul Malook for contest.
• Sibtain Khan hopes to win “effortlessly”.
• Punjab Assembly adopts resolution for staging vote of no-confidence against deputy speaker.

The session of the Punjab Assembly for the election of a new speaker today (Friday) has started, with both the ruling coalition and opposition alliance fielding their candidates for the coveted post.

The seat of the Punjab Assembly fell vacant after the former office bearer, Pervez Elahi’s election as the Punjab chief minister.

The PTI and the PML-Q have jointly pitched Sibtain Khan, PTI MPA from Mianwali, who will contest against the Opposition’s candidate, Saif ul Malook Khokhar of the PML-N. The newly-appointed assembly secretary Inayatullah Lak approved the nomination papers of both the candidates after scrutiny.

Sibtain Khan claimed that the PML-N would “fail to cause any interruption” during the speaker’s election, hoping that he would win the contest “effortlessly”, Dawn.com reported.

“Everyone saw what happened to the letter [of PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain] that the PML-N had presented to win the chief minister election,” he said.

Meanwhile, speaking to the journalists outside the assembly shortly before the session began, PML-N’s Khokhar said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and one of its candidates will win. “They [PTI] will know who is better and who is a thief,” he added.

The ruling coalition has a strength of 186 MPAs whereas PML-N, PPP and a few independents constitute a strength of 178. An upset and a very tough contest is likely in a secret ballot.

More to follow