NA to resume routine business after NA-122 by-polls

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly will come out of ‘suspended animation’ after the by-election to NA-122 Lahore constituency on October 11 to resume its routine business.
Although the House committees continue to function as usual, the National Assembly itself has not been convened by the government waiting for the holding of the by-poll, which was necessitated by the unseating of Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq by a Lahore election tribunal.
Since it is mandatory under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly to elect the new speaker in its first session after the occurrence of vacancy, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has not called the sitting as it wants to have Ayaz Sadiq get the same office again should he win the by-election. As a stopgap, the deputy speaker is officiating the previous position of Ayaz Sadiq as per the relevant law.
Under rule 11, whenever the office of the speaker or his deputy becomes vacant, an election to fill that slot ‘shall’ be held if the National Assembly is in session as soon as possible during it; and if it is not in session, at the commencement of its next sitting.
Thus, it was not obligatory for the ruling party to immediately elect the new speaker after the ouster of Ayaz Sadiq for a number of irregularities committed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on the polling day in 2013.
In the case of fresh general elections, at the first meeting of the National Assembly after the lawmakers have taken oath and before the transaction of any other business, it will proceed to elect a speaker under rule 9 and also as required by Article 53 (1) of the Constitution.
Such meeting will be presided over by the outgoing speaker or, in his absence, by a person nominated by the president of Pakistan for the purpose. But no person will chair the meeting for such election in which he himself is a candidate.
As the government did not want to have anyone 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.