Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Wasiq Qayyum Abbasi was elected as deputy speaker of Punjab Assembly unopposed after the opposition parties boycotted the election on Saturday. On Friday, the no-confidence motion against deputy speaker Dost Muhammad Mazari succeeded, after which the seat of deputy speaker fell vacant. Wasiq was the only candidate who submitted the nomination papers for the deputy speaker slot as the opposition alliance failed to field their candidate till the deadline of 5:00 pm. Talking to reporters in his office, assembly secretary Inayatullah Lak said that they waited for the opposition’s candidate till 5:15pm but he did not show up. He also read out Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab, 1997 which states: “At any time before 5pm, on the day preceding the day on which the election is to be held, a member may propose another member for election as Speaker by delivering to the Secretary a nomination paper 2 [set out in Part A & C of First Schedule] signed by him and accompanied by a statement by the member whose name is proposed that he is willing to serve as Speaker, if elected.” Hence, Lak said that as per the rules Awan was elected the new deputy speaker. In a statement after his victory, Awan thanked his party chief. “This election is not mine but for the narrative that Imran Khan created in the public.”
“We chose the lawful way and defeated them despite all the violent and pressure tactics they used,” he added. Speaking to media, Gilani said that the opposition has boycotted the elections as they are not “clean and transparent”. “We had strong objections regarding the election process,” said the candidate.
On Friday, the assembly had elected PTI’s Sibtain Khan as its speaker. The Punjab Assembly speaker’s seat fell vacant after the former office bearer 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. Following his victory, Speaker Khan held a vote on the no-confidence motion submitted against Mazari. A total of 186 lawmakers had supported the vote of no-confidence motion against them.
Mazari had to face the vote as PTI Chairperson Imran Khan and other party leaders severely criticised him for his ruling, which deprived Pervez Elahi of becoming the chief minister after he rejected 10 votes from the PML-Q – enabling Hamza Shahbaz to retain the top office. Separately, PML-N leader Saiful Malook Khokar said that his party had boycotted the elections because of “Gujrat’s hooliganism”. His statements come as a reference to the PA speaker’s elections held on Friday.
