Election for NA Speaker slot on 22nd

ISLAMABAD: The election for the vacant seat of Speaker of the National Assembly will be held during the National Assembly session at 3:00pm on April 22.

The National Assembly Secretariat late Wednesday night announced a change in the schedule of Speaker’s election. According to the announcement, the session of the National Assembly, which was to be held on Saturday afternoon, would now be held at 3:00pm on April 22.

The National Assembly Secretariat says that the acting Speaker Qasim Suri changed the schedule of the session using powers under rule 49 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

Earlier, it was announced that the elections for the NA Speaker will be held on April 16 (Saturday). According to the revised schedule, the nomination papers for the office of the NA Speaker will be submitted tomorrow (Friday).

The Speaker’s seat has been lying vacant following the resignation of ex-Speaker Asad Qaisar who announced to quit while refusing to conduct voting on the no-confidence resolution against Imran Khan Saturday last.

Qasim Suri is retaining the NA membership and deputy speaker slot on account of an order by the apex court. There would be secret balloting for the election of the Speaker as per Rule 9 of Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

The joint candidate of the allied government is likely to be elected unopposed as resignations of the members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have been received by the National Assembly Secretariat. However, the chair will announce the name of a successful candidate during proceedings of the House.

The leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has been offered the slot of Speaker, will consider nominating former prime minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf or Syed Naveed Qamar for the slot.