| National Assembly to elect new Prime Minister in today’s session | United opposition’s candidate Shehbaz Sharif, PTI’s Shah Mahmood are in the race | Babar Awan’s objection to nomination papers of Shehbaz Sharif rejected
ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly will elect the new Leader of the House on Monday (today) after the passage of the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Vice-President Shah Mahmood Qureshi are in the run for slot as both submitted their nomination papers for new Leader of the House in National Assembly.
Their papers were scrutinised and accepted by the National Assembly Secretariat. Earlier, Dr Babar Awan raised objections on nomination papers of PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif but these were rejected by the NA Secretariat. Former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chair Asif Ali Zaradri had proposed Shehbaz’s name for prime minister in a joint opposition’s meeting. Zardari’s son Bilawal Bhutto is likely to be appointed as the new foreign minister, according to some media reports.
Opposition parties in the National Assembly on Sunday (April 10) defeated the ruling PTI government in the no-confidence resolution they jointly moved against Prime Minister Imran Khan with 174 votes, setting a new precedent in parliamentary history of the country for in-house change through a democratic and constitutional manner.
The nomination papers of Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Shah Mahmood Qureshi were accepted on Sunday for new Leader of the House in National Assembly. Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif himself submitted his nomination papers as a joint candidate of the Opposition parties and their allies.
The nomination papers of Shah Mahmood Qureshi were submitted on his behalf by his son Zain Qureshi and MNAs Aamir Dogar and Malika Bukhari who will be the candidate of PTI and its allies.
The deadline for submission of nomination papers was 2:00pm on April 10, 2022 while scrutiny process was made by 3:00 pm today (April 10, 2022).
The NA sitting would be held on Monday (today) at 2:00pm to elect new leader of the House (Prime Minister). Before commencement of the poll, the Chair will read out to the Assembly the names of the validly nominated candidates, hereinafter referred to as the contesting candidates, in the order in which their nomination papers were received and proceed to hold the poll in accordance with the procedure set out in the Second Schedule.
According to the second schedule, the Speaker of Chair shall direct that the bells be rung for five minutes before commencement of voting to enable members not present in the Chamber to be present. Immediately after the bells stop ringing, all the entrances to the Lobby shall be locked and the Assembly staff posted at each entrance shall not allow any entry or exit through those entrances until the voting has concluded.
The Speaker or Chair shall then read out the resolution before the Assembly and ask the members who wish to vote in favour of the resolution to pass in single file through the entrance where tellers shall be posted to record the votes. On reaching the desk of the tellers, each member shall, in turn, call out the division number allotted to him under the rules. The tellers shall then mark off his number on the division list simultaneously calling out the name of the member.
In order to ensure that his vote has been properly recorded, the member shall not move off until he has clearly heard the teller call out his name. After a member has recorded his vote, he shall not return to the Chamber until bells are rung after conclusion of voting process.
When the Speaker finds that all the members who wished to vote have recorded their votes, he shall announce that the voting has concluded. Thereupon the Secretary shall cause the division list to be collected, count the recorded votes and present the result of the count to the Speaker. The Speaker shall then direct that the bells be rung for two minutes to enable the members to return to the Chamber. After the bells stop ringing, the Speaker shall announce the result to the Assembly.