KARACHI: The newly-elected members of the Sindh Assembly have started arriving as the provincial legislature session has begun to elect its speaker and deputy speaker today (Sunday) a day after the oath-taking ceremony.
The session was scheduled to take place at 11am but began 30 minutes late. Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani is chairing the session.
The scrutiny of the papers for both slots and the arrangements for the elections has been completed. The voting will take place through a secret ballot.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated Owais Qadir Shah and Anthony Naveed for the positions of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively. The nomination papers of both the candidates have been declared valid.
Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) nominated Sofia Saeed Shah for the speaker’s post and Rashid Khan for the deputy speaker. Their papers have also been declared valid.
A day earlier, at least 148 newly-elected Sindh Assembly members took oath in the House of 168 as parties took to the streets to hold demonstrations against the alleged rigging in the February 8 polls.
The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), PTI and Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi), had announced to hold a joint “peaceful” protest outside the assembly.
However, the situation turned tense before the swearing-in ceremony, as several workers, including women, clashed with the police party present there to keep the order.
Over 20 Qaumi Awami Tehreek workers, including women, were arrested and shifted to the police station during the clashes. The law enforcement officials also baton-charged the protestors.
The protests continued for hours and were called off after the police baton-charged and detained at least 30 protesters from near the Arts Council for staging a demonstration and raising slogans in the Red Zone area amid the imposition of Section-144.
On the other hand, the Punjab Assembly on Saturday elected Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates Malik Ahmed Khan and Malik Zaheer Ahmed Channer as the House’s speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.
