Murad Ali Shah elected Sindh Chief Minister

KARACHI:  Pakistan People's Party nominee Murad Ali Shah was elected as chief minister of Sindh after securing majority of votes  on Thursday.

Shah secured 97 votes while Sheryar Mehr of opposition alliance bagged 61 votes.

A total of 158 votes were cast during the election of leader of the  house.

The lawmakers on Wednesday elected  Siraj Durrani as speaker of the Sindh Assembly and Rehana Leghari as Deputy Speaker.

Shah previously served as the chief minister rom July 29, 2016 to May 28, 2018.

He faced  Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) MPA Shaharyar Khan Mahar,  the consensus candidate of the opposition alliance comprising the GDA, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

After last month’s polls, 97 MPAs of the PPP were elected to the provincial legislature, and the PTI secured 30 seats in the House, the GDA 13 and the MQM-P 21.

On Wednesday the nomination papers for the election were submitted and scrutinised.

PPP MPAs Makhdoom Rafik Zaman and Mir Nadir Ali Khan Magsi were the proposer and seconder respectively for Shah. For Mahar, MQM-P MPA Khawaja Izharul Hassan was the proposer and PTI MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman the seconder.

It is expected that after being elected by the PA, Shah would take the oath of office as the new chief executive of the province today at the Sindh Governor House.