*ISLAMABAD – Asad Qaiser has been announced as the new Speaker of theNational Assembly with 176 votes while Khursheed Shah secured 146 votes.*
*Total 330 votes were polled while 8 votes were rejected.*
*Polling for the new speaker of the National Assembly is over. The speakerand deputy speaker will be announced shortly.*
The votes were recounted after PPP leader Shazia Marri and Umar Ayub raisedobjections. They are some of the MNAs overseeing the vote count.
This is the second session of the 15th National Assembly. The voting forthe speaker and deputy speaker is taking place through secret balloting.
The PTI, which has the highest number of seats in the lower house, hasnominated Asad Qaiser as its candidate for speaker. The opposition partiesfiled the nomination papers for PPP leader Khursheed Shah. Shah served asthe leader of the opposition in the National Assembly in the previous term.
The PTI submitted the nomination papers of Qasim Khan Suri as its candidatefor the deputy speaker. Maulana Asad Mehmood is the opposition’s candidatefor the post.
The PTI enjoys the backing of the MQM, BAP, BNP-Mengal, GDA, PML-Q, AwamiMuslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party in the National Assembly. The PTIhas 151 seats, MQM has seven, BAP five, BNP-Mengal four and GDA three whilethe Awami Muslim League and Jamhoori Watan Party have one seat each. Of thefour independent elected MNAs, two have declared their support for the PTI.This means the PTI has 177 votes.
On the other hand, the opposition has the 81 votes of the PML-N, 53 of thePPP, 15 of the MMA and one of the ANP. In total, the opposition candidatescan get 150 votes.