Ayaz Sadiq elected NA speaker for third time

Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sardar Ayaz Sadiq has been elected the National Assembly speaker for the third time.

He has secured 199 votes out of a total of 291 votes cast.

After the counting of votes was complete, outgoing speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that a total of 291 votes were cast, out of which one was “invalid” and the rest declared “valid”.

He then announced that Sadiq received 199 votes while his rival PTI-backed Amir Dogar got 91 votes.

PML-N and PPP had jointly nominated Ayaz Sadiq as candidate for the slot of Speaker while Aamir Dogar was a candidate of Sunni Ittehad Council.

The election for prime minister will be held on March 3.

Earlier, the maiden session of the National Assembly was adjourned by Speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf after 302, out of a total of 336, newly-elected members took oath on Thursday.

Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf administered the oath.

Some of the noticeable figures who took oath were PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, ex-president Asif Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

PTI-backed candidates, who joined Sunni Ittehad Council, attended the session with pictures of Imran Khan.

The session started with a ruckus as soon as the national anthem ended with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers surrounding the speaker’s dais.

The party had already announced it would protest in today’s session against the alleged rigging.

It was after an appeal by the speaker that the lawmakers settled down.

The house was echoed with the slogans and counter slogans by the members of Sunni Ittehad Council and PML-N and its ally parties. The SIC members raised slogan ‘Qaidi No 804’.

During the session, PTI leaders Sher Afzal Khan Marwat and Ali Muhammad Khan wore Imran Khan face masks. It is also reported that a Imran Khan face mask was thrown at PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif when he was signing a document in the house.