Newly-elected KP Assembly MPAs take oath amid ruckus

PESHAWAR: Newly-elected members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly have taken oath after the session was marred by ruckus caused by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) workers.

The assembly’s session was expected to commence at 11 AM but was delayed by more than an hour as the elected lawmakers faced difficulty in entering the Assembly hall

There session by marked by disturbance as some PTI workers even threw “lota” and a shoe at PML-N’s Sobia Shahid and chanted slogans against her.

Speaker Mushtaq Ghani administered oath to the new elected provincial legislators. Several PTI-backed candidate including KP Chief Minister nominee Ali Amin Gandapur took oath as an independent member.

At least 350 policemen were deployed outside the KP Assembly building as the Awami National Party had called for a protest outside the legislature as the newly-elected members take oath.

The PTI has dropped the name of Aqibullah, a brother of former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaisar and nominated Babar Saleem Swati, an MPA from Mansehra, for the speaker’s office.

Aqibullah will be taken as a minister of provincial cabinet. The name of a woman member from Chitral Surayya Bibi, has emerged for the post of the deputy speaker.

PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council has been the largest parliamentary block in KP Assembly with 91 members, while the JUI have 7 members, PML-N 5, PPP-4, ANP and PTI-P have one member each in the house.