Newly elected MNAs take oath in NA's inaugural session

ISLAMABAD: The 16th National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday came into effect with the oath-taking of newly elected MNAs following the February 8 general elections.

The oath to the newly elected MNAs was administered by Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. The house which was scheduled to take place at 10 in the morning, started after 11.

The NA session started with a ruckus as soon as the national anthem ended with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed lawmakers, who have joined the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), surrounding the speaker’s dias.

The party had already announced it would protest in today’s session against the alleged rigging done in the February 8 general elections. It was after an appeal by the speaker that the lawmakers settled down and the oath was taken by all the lawmakers.

However, as soon as the oath was administered the PTI -SIC lawmakers again started chanting slogans.

Strict security measures have been put in place in the Red Zone. The entry of vehicles without special cards and stickers were not allowed to enter the Parliament House premises.

President signs summary

Following a tug-of-war with the Centre, President Dr Arif Alvi finally signed a summary, forwarded by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar, to summon the National Assembly’s (NA) inaugural session today (Thursday).

Sources told ARY News that President Alvi signed the summary forwarded by the caretaker government despite ‘reservations’.

In a statement issued from the President’s House, Dr. Arif Alvi also ‘expressed’ reservations over the “tone and allegations” in the caretaker summary forwarded by PM Anwaarul Kakar.

Schedule for PM election

As per the schedule, Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf would administer the oath to the newly-elected legislators, followed by the election of the new speaker and deputy speaker.

For the aforementioned coveted constitutional posts, aspiring candidates are required to submit their nomination papers before 12pm today — with the voting set to be held on Friday (tomorrow).

This would be followed by the election of the prime minister, for which the candidates are required to file their nomination papers on March 3, whereas the election for the country’s chief executive would be held next week on March 4 (Monday).

Sources say that the newly-elected prime minister is likely to take oath as the country’s chief executive on the same day.

Who is contesting the PM election?

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), which has the backing of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and others, has nominated Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for the top office.

Meanwhile, jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party nominated as its Prime Ministerial candidate the party secretary general Omar Ayub Khan, grandson of former military dictator Ayub Khan.

Omar Ayub Khan, 54, joined Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) before the 2018 general elections after losing the 2013 polls as a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) from Haripur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.