Maryam Nawaz takes oath as Punjab CM

The daughter of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz has been elected as the first female Chief Minister of Punjab on Monday.

She was elected after the voting process by the newly elected members of the Punjab Assembly.

The members of Sunni Ittehad Council have walked out of the house twice in protest and chanted slogans against Punjab government.

Speaker Malik Ahmed Khan announcing the result said that the PMLN candidate secured 220 votes as compared to SIC’s Aftab, who received no vote as his party boycotted the election.

Oath taking ceremony

Maryam Nawaz took the oath of office Monday shortly after being elected as the first woman chief executive of the province.

The swearing-in ceremony took place at Punjab Governor House, where Governor Baligh Ur Rehman administered the oath to her.

Top officials including Sharif family members former Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif were present in the ceremony.

“I want to congratulate Maryam Nawaz on successfully getting elected as new Chief Minister Punjab,” he said.

In his first speech after becoming the Chief Minister, Maryam vowed to work for not just the MPAs who voted for her but also those who didn’t supported her.

“I want to give a message to the opposition: the doors of my chamber and heart will always remain open for them as they are for my party members,” she said in the house.

“Today, I am upset that the respectable members of the opposition benches are not present here […] I wish they would be a part of the political and democratic process,” she said.

She recalled that despite several challenges and difficulties, her party members and the PML-N never left the ground empty.

“If the opposition was present today, and if they had protested during my speech, I would have been happy,” she said.

Maryam Nawaz was the nominated candidate of PML-N for the post, while Rana Aftab was the candidate for the Sunni Ittehad Council.

Before coming to the Punjab Assembly, PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz visited the graves of her grandfather, grandmother and mother in Jati Umra and then left for the assembly.

She had the backing of 224 MPAs in the provincial assembly, as compared to 103 MPAs in favour of SIC’s Rana Aftab Aftab Ahmad.

Yesterday, the members of the Pakistan Muslim League-N had submitted the nomination papers of Maryam Nawaz. Punjab Assembly Secretary Chaudhry Amir Habib received the papers.

The nomination papers of Rana Aftab Ahmed, the nominee of the Sunni Ittehad Council, were also submitted.