Mushtaq Ghani, Mehmood Jan elected speaker, deputy
House expected to vote for PTI’s Mahmood Khan as new chief minister
Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and Mehmood Jan. PHOTOS: EXPRESS
PESHAWAR:
As was expected, the provincial legislature on Wednesday elected PTI’s Mushtaq Ghani and Mehmood Jan as the speaker and deputy speaker of the provincial assembly. However, the party’s efforts to have them elected unopposed fell through.
Ghani secured 81 votes out of the total 108 votes polled. Laiq Mohammad Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) — who was contesting the seat as the representative of the joint opposition — received only 27 votes.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for the deputy speaker, Jan, got fewer votes than Ghani, only 78 votes out of the 109 votes which were polled.
PTI names Mushtaq Ghani for speaker, Mehmood Jan deputy speaker in K-P Assembly
His opponent, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Jamshaid Khan Mohmand received 30 votes. One vote in the election of the deputy speaker’s election was rejected.
PML-N’s parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota — who had been appointed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra to administer the oath of the assembly to newly-elected lawmakers on Monday — continued to preside over Wednesday’s sitting.
He conducted the elections for the speaker and later administered the oath of office to the newly elected speaker of the house.
After Ghani took the oath, he chaired the remaining proceedings of the house and conducted the elections for the slot of the deputy speaker.
After Jan’s election, Ghani administered the oath of office to him.
Earlier, Wednesday’s sitting — scheduled to start at 10am — commenced around 50 minutes late.
The polling process for the K-P assembly speaker started with the first vote being cast by Hidayatur Rehman of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) from Chitral's PK-1.
The election, though, was held through the secret ballot system and a polling booth was set up inside the house where every lawmaker had to take the ballot and decide his vote. After stamping the paper and folding it, the lawmaker had to walk up to the speaker’s desk and cast his vote into a transparent ballot box.
Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), however, could not cast her vote since she arrived in the assembly after Nalota had announced to stop the polling process and ordered the assembly staff to start counting the votes.
Democratic processes: K-P Assembly votes for new speaker, deputy speaker today
Orakzai started protesting against Nalota’s move, shouting from the entrance of the hall as she stormed into the hall. She requested Nalotha to allow her cast her vote but the secretariat staff of the assembly told that the rules do not permit such votes.
She protested and was joined by other members of the opposition who started raising the PML-N slogans of ‘Vote Ko Izat Do’ (respect the vote).
Later, when votes were being cast for the election of the deputy speaker, Orakzai refused to cast her vote in protest. She was, however, later persuaded by the newly-elected Speaker Mushtaq Ghani to cast her ballot.
Later, Ghani in his address vowed to run the assembly impartially, taking the opposition and government into confidence on all matters.
“I am hopeful we all would work together for the development of the province and address the problems of its people,” Ghani said, adding, “I will serve as a bridge between the government and the opposition and will run the assembly with mutual cooperation and consultation.”
He said that he would try to bring reforms in the system and would try to remove hurdles from the system, particularly from the rules of procedure and the conduct of the assembly.
Opposition members including Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Maulana Lutfur Rehman and ANP’s Sardar Hussain Babak congratulated Ghani and Jan for winning the election and assured them that the opposition will provide positive and constructive criticism.
Inayatullah said he would refrain from criticism for the sake of criticism and would expect the speaker to be impartial.
Assembly starts work
As the first order of business, the speaker directed the Inspector General of K-P police to present a report on the alleged extra-judicial killing of a man by law enforcement officials in Swabi within 24 hours.
Babak had raised the issue and had criticised the police and security agencies, demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident.
“Law enforcement agencies from Punjab came to Swabi and killed a man inside his house, in front of his children and wife. This is unjust and totally uncalled for. A judicial inquiry should be conducted into the incident,” he said.
CM’s elections
While the K-P Assembly elected a speaker and deputy speaker on Wednesday, the house is expected to elect the province’s chief minister on Thursday (Today).
The election will be held through the division of house system. The house is expected to meet at 11am to vote.
PTI, which has a two-thirds majority in the house, has nominated Swat-based lawmaker Mahmood Khan for the CM slot.
From the joint opposition, MMA’s Mian Nisar Gul is in contention for the slot.
Nomination papers for the slot were submitted by the candidates on Wednesday afternoon in the assembly secretariat.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2018.
As was expected, the provincial legislature on Wednesday elected PTI’s Mushtaq Ghani and Mehmood Jan as the speaker and deputy speaker of the provincial assembly. However, the party’s efforts to have them elected unopposed fell through.
Ghani secured 81 votes out of the total 108 votes polled. Laiq Mohammad Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) — who was contesting the seat as the representative of the joint opposition — received only 27 votes.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate for the deputy speaker, Jan, got fewer votes than Ghani, only 78 votes out of the 109 votes which were polled.
PTI names Mushtaq Ghani for speaker, Mehmood Jan deputy speaker in K-P Assembly
His opponent, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Jamshaid Khan Mohmand received 30 votes. One vote in the election of the deputy speaker’s election was rejected.
PML-N’s parliamentary leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota — who had been appointed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Governor Iqbal Zafar Jhagra to administer the oath of the assembly to newly-elected lawmakers on Monday — continued to preside over Wednesday’s sitting.
He conducted the elections for the speaker and later administered the oath of office to the newly elected speaker of the house.
After Ghani took the oath, he chaired the remaining proceedings of the house and conducted the elections for the slot of the deputy speaker.
After Jan’s election, Ghani administered the oath of office to him.
Earlier, Wednesday’s sitting — scheduled to start at 10am — commenced around 50 minutes late.
The polling process for the K-P assembly speaker started with the first vote being cast by Hidayatur Rehman of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) from Chitral's PK-1.
The election, though, was held through the secret ballot system and a polling booth was set up inside the house where every lawmaker had to take the ballot and decide his vote. After stamping the paper and folding it, the lawmaker had to walk up to the speaker’s desk and cast his vote into a transparent ballot box.
Nighat Orakzai of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), however, could not cast her vote since she arrived in the assembly after Nalota had announced to stop the polling process and ordered the assembly staff to start counting the votes.
Democratic processes: K-P Assembly votes for new speaker, deputy speaker today
Orakzai started protesting against Nalota’s move, shouting from the entrance of the hall as she stormed into the hall. She requested Nalotha to allow her cast her vote but the secretariat staff of the assembly told that the rules do not permit such votes.
She protested and was joined by other members of the opposition who started raising the PML-N slogans of ‘Vote Ko Izat Do’ (respect the vote).
Later, when votes were being cast for the election of the deputy speaker, Orakzai refused to cast her vote in protest. She was, however, later persuaded by the newly-elected Speaker Mushtaq Ghani to cast her ballot.
Later, Ghani in his address vowed to run the assembly impartially, taking the opposition and government into confidence on all matters.
“I am hopeful we all would work together for the development of the province and address the problems of its people,” Ghani said, adding, “I will serve as a bridge between the government and the opposition and will run the assembly with mutual cooperation and consultation.”
He said that he would try to bring reforms in the system and would try to remove hurdles from the system, particularly from the rules of procedure and the conduct of the assembly.
Opposition members including Inayatullah Khan of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Maulana Lutfur Rehman and ANP’s Sardar Hussain Babak congratulated Ghani and Jan for winning the election and assured them that the opposition will provide positive and constructive criticism.
Inayatullah said he would refrain from criticism for the sake of criticism and would expect the speaker to be impartial.
Assembly starts work
As the first order of business, the speaker directed the Inspector General of K-P police to present a report on the alleged extra-judicial killing of a man by law enforcement officials in Swabi within 24 hours.
Babak had raised the issue and had criticised the police and security agencies, demanding a judicial inquiry into the incident.
“Law enforcement agencies from Punjab came to Swabi and killed a man inside his house, in front of his children and wife. This is unjust and totally uncalled for. A judicial inquiry should be conducted into the incident,” he said.
CM’s elections
While the K-P Assembly elected a speaker and deputy speaker on Wednesday, the house is expected to elect the province’s chief minister on Thursday (Today).
The election will be held through the division of house system. The house is expected to meet at 11am to vote.
PTI, which has a two-thirds majority in the house, has nominated Swat-based lawmaker Mahmood Khan for the CM slot.
From the joint opposition, MMA’s Mian Nisar Gul is in contention for the slot.
Nomination papers for the slot were submitted by the candidates on Wednesday afternoon in the assembly secretariat.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2018.