Newly elected Punjab MPAs take oath

Outgoing Speaker Sibtain Khan administered oath to the newly-elected Member Provincial Assembly (MPA)s of the Punjab Assembly on Friday.

The provincial assembly session was presided over by Sibtain, which started after a delay of more then two hours.

The secretary of the assembly said that the speaker and deputy speaker will be elected tomorrow (Saturday) through secret balloting.

“Nomination papers for speaker and deputy speaker will be collected and scrutinised today,” he added.

This was the first provincial assembly session after the February 8 general polls, wherein the newly-elected members have sworn-in.

Moreover, members of the PMLN and the PTI chanted slogans against each other which caused the delay in session proceedings.

The Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which formed an alliance with Imran Khan’s PTI claimed that they were not allowed to enter in the Assembly.

SIC members tried talking to the assembly speaker, however, they were told that they would be heard once they took an oath.

PMLN’s central information secretary

Earlier, PMLN has decided to make its central information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb member of Punjab Assembly.

The decision to make Marriyum Aurangzeb a member of the Punjab Assembly has been taken by party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif and President Shehbaz Sharif after consultation.

Marriyum Aurangzeb took oath as a member of Punjab Assembly today and will assist the Chief Minister designate Maryam Nawaz in the province.

It should be noted that Marriyum Aurangzeb has been a member of National Assembly twice. She also held the portfolio of federal information minister twice. Marriyum Aurangzeb is taking oath as a member of Punjab Assembly for the first time.

A heavy contingent of police was deployed outside the assembly in view of possible PTI protests.