Newly-elected Punjab Assembly members take oath
LAHORE: The newly-elected members of the Punjab Assembly took oath on Friday, the first legislative assembly to do so after February 8 general elections.
The PA session, presided over by outgoing speaker Sibtain Khan, began after a delay of more than two hours. The election for the speaker and deputy speaker will be held tomorrow (Saturday) through secret balloting. The assembly secretary said the nomination papers for will be collected and scrutinized today.
At the outset of the delayed session, members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) chanted slogans against each other.
The SIC claimed its members were not being allowed to enter the assembly. SIC members raised the matter with the speaker but were told that they would be heard after taking oath.
PTI-backed candidate Imtiaz Sheikh reached the assembly hiding in a vehicle with black-tinted glasses and laid low in the vehicle’s rear seat.
Speaker Sibtain Khan said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has not yet issued the list of reserved seats.
Earlier, the newly-elected MPAs including PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz arrived at the assembly as she entered parliamentary politics.
Talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly, Sibtain Khan said the elected MPAs should not be prevented from attending the assembly session.
He admitted that some members got a level playing field while others were deprived of it. To a query, he said he came too early as sessions had been delayed in the past up to six hours.
The speaker also said the election for the provincial assembly’s speaker and deputy speaker would be held on Saturday (tomorrow).
The PTI alleged that police were stopping its elected members from taking oath by participating in the session. It said police attempted to arrest the PTI’s CM candidate Mian Aslam Iqbal.
Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman had formally issued a notification convening for the assembly meeting. The PML-N has become the largest party in the Punjab Assembly which has announced to form the government in the province.