LAHORE, July 29(ABC): The Punjab Assembly elected PTI’s Sibtain Khan, who was a joint candidate of his party and the PML-Q, as the new speaker on Friday.
The Punjab Assembly speaker’s seat fell vacant after the former office bearer Pervez Elahi was elected as the chief minister of Punjab on Tuesday, July 26.
Sibtain won the election after securing 185 votes against the 175 votes obtained by PML-N’s Saif ul Malook Khokhar, who was the Opposition’s joint candidate.
Out of the 364 votes cast, four were rejected during the session, which was presided over by PTI MPA Waseem Khan Badozai. The rejected votes included three of the Opposition and one of the PTI.
Following Khan’s victory, Badozai, who is the panel chairman, administered an oath to the speaker.
Sibtain, after taking charge of the speaker’s post, thanked the Assembly for entrusting him with the respect of the House.
“Some time ago, the police came to the house, the house was disrespected. I will try to prevent such incidents from happening again,” said the speaker before postponing the session for 30 minutes.
After his victory, Punjab Chief Minister Elahi congratulated the PTI lawmaker.
“It is hoped that Sibtain Khan will run the Punjab Assembly in a good manner,” said the CM, adding that the opposition, like before, faced another defeat today.
The chief minister added that the Opposition will “continue to receive such surprises in the future”, adding that the Punjab government will work day and night to serve the province.
Ahead of the elections, the newly-appointed assembly secretary Inayatullah Lak approved the nomination papers of both the candidates after scrutiny.
Prior to the commencement of the voting process, PML-N’s Khalil Tahir Sindhu tried to raise a point of objection related to the position of the polling booth, saying that cameras were installed above it.
After his objection, the location of the polling booth was changed.