Qasim Suri's move to delay NA speaker's election challenged in IHC

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Thursday moved Islamabad High Court (IHC) against Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s move to delay the convening of the National Assembly session to April 22, ARY News reported.

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) leader Murtaza Javed Abbasi, in his plea filed in IHC, pleaded the court to overturn Qasim Suri’s circular regarding the National Assembly session.

The petitioner requested the court to direct deputy speaker to immediately convene a session for the election of the speaker of the assembly and to cease Suri from exercising the powers of the speaker.

The National Assembly session, which was scheduled to take place on Saturday, has been rescheduled for April 22 at 3:00 pm.

The schedule has been changed by Acting Speaker Qasim Suri under the National Assembly rules.

ELECTION FOR NA SPEAKER ON APRIL 22 AS QASIM SURI CHANGES SCHEDULE

“The change in the schedule has been made by the acting speaker under Rule 49(2) of the Rules and Procedure for the Conduct of the Business in the National Assembly 2007,” the NA secretariat said in a notification.

Earlier, the NA Secretariat had issued the schedule for the speaker’s election according to which nomination papers were to be submitted by 12 noon on April 15.

The seat fell vacant after Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser resigned minutes before voting on the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan on last Saturday night.