PTI’s Wasiq Qayyum elected PA Deputy Speaker unopposed

LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi was elected Speaker of the Punjab Assembly unopposed after no other candidate filed nomination papers for the post, ARY News reported on Saturday.

Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi, the joint candidate of PTI and PML-Q, was the only candidate who submitted the nomination papers for the deputy speaker slot as the opposition alliance joint candidate failed to pitch their candidate till the deadline.

A notification declaring Wasiq Qayyum as PA deputy speaker will be issued shortly.

The deputy speaker’s slot fell vacant after a no-trust motion, tabled by PTI’s Raja Basharat, ousted Dost Mohammad Mazari from the office.

PML-N challenges PA speaker election

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has challenged the election of PTI’s Sibtain Khan as speaker Punjab Assembly in the Lahore High Court (LHC), alleging that the poll was not held through secret ballot.

The appeal from PML-N was moved by Mansoor Usman Awan stating that the election process did not fulfil constitutional and legal formalities.

“The election for speaker is held through a secret ballot and printing serial numbers on the ballot papers for the election held on Friday violated the legal and constitutional binding,” it said and demanded of the LHC to declare the election of Sibtain Khan as null and void and order a re-election of the speaker Punjab Assembly.

It is pertinent to mention here that PTI candidate Sibtan Khan was elected as the new speaker of the Punjab Assembly on Friday.