as speaker other than Ayaz Sadiq, it refrained from convening the National Assembly for the past two months. Its last sitting was held in August. There have also been no demands from any opposition party to summon it.
Ayaz Sadiq will surely be reelected as speaker if he wins the by-poll. Obviously, if he lost, the PML-N will pick up some other leading figure from its ranks to assume this office after his election in the National Assembly in which it faces no problem to have its man as the speaker’s chair.
Following the exit of Ayaz Sadiq in the third week of August, the National Assembly has been experiencing the longest hiatus after the last general elections when it has not held its session.
Since then, the deputy speaker is working as the head of the National Assembly secretariat and disposing of its administrative work. In the meantime, the functioning of the committees has not suffered any interruption due to the absence of the speaker.
As the by-poll will be over on October 11, the next session of the National Assembly will be called a week later after the ECP will notify the winner of the contest.
The differences that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has with Ayaz Sadiq and its successful challenge to his victory before the election tribunal apart, he had been a non-controversial speaker all along as he had not allowed any major row to erupt due to his deft handling of the proceedings.
Because of his amicable management and behaviour, his performance has been favourably viewed by almost all the legislators although he at times has been dealing with sensitive matters, which have the potential to generate tussles.
One of his major decisions meant to avert any upheaval of the parliamentary system related to non-acceptance of the resignations of the PTI lawmakers. He used his powers to reject the resignations. The Islamabad High Court also approved his opinion. The PTI had also never wanted to walk out of the National Assembly although they had been taking a different stand at the public level.