Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) member of the Provincial Assembly (MPA) Awais Qadir Shah ascended to the role of speaker in the Sindh Assembly after securing a significant majority of 111 votes, overshadowing his opponent, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Sofia Saeed, who managed to gather only 36 votes.
Shah, sworn in by outgoing speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, will now proceed without elections for his deputy. However, the election saw a boycott by members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), who abstained from casting votes.
The assembly session, albeit with a slight delay due to oath-taking formalities, commenced as planned. Outgoing speaker Durrani briefed members on the voting process before the session. With Shah’s assumption of office, the subsequent task involves overseeing the polling for the deputy speaker’s position, with PPP’s Anthony Naveed and MQM-P’s Rashid Khan contending.
Likewise, Anthony Naveed was elected as deputy speaker by securing 111 voted against MQM-P’s Rashid Khan who got 36 votes.Naveed is the first ever deputy speaker of Sindh Assembly belonging to christian community. It is to mention that C.E Gubson from Christian community served as deputy speaker National Assembly from 1955 to 1958.
Expressing gratitude towards PPP leadership, Awais Qadir Shah highlighted the honor of being elected as Sukkur’s assembly speaker for the first time. He emphasized the importance of adhering to parliamentary procedures to ensure effective governance, promising equitable treatment for all members and hoping to meet public expectations.
Prior to today’s session, nine members of the SIC and Jamat-e-Islami’s (JI) Muhammad Farooq, who missed the previous oath-taking, were sworn in. PPP’s nominee for chief minister, Murad Ali Shah, lamented the loss of party workers during election campaigns and urged the assembly to remember them in prayers.
The preceding day witnessed the swearing-in of 148 newly-elected Sindh Assembly members amid protests by various parties alleging electoral malpractice. Tensions escalated as clashes broke out between demonstrators and law enforcement, resulting in several arrests and confrontations.
Meanwhile, in the Punjab Assembly, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) candidates Malik Ahmed Khan and Malik Zaheer Ahmed Channer were elected as speaker and deputy speaker, respectively.
