The country entered the government formation phase on Thursday, transitioning from the electoral period. Assembly sessions were called in Punjab and Sindh by their governors, and a summary was forwarded to the president to convene the National Assembly session next week.
The Punjab Assembly will convene on Friday (today), marking the first legislature session since the February 8 general elections. Subsequently, the Sindh Assembly session is scheduled for Saturday (tomorrow). During these inaugural sessions, the newly-elected members of the provincial assemblies (MPAs) will take their oath of office.
Punjab Governor Baleeghur Rehman and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori summoned the provincial assembly sessions after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) allocated reserved seats for women and minorities to the respective parties based on their performance in the general seats.
While the ECP is yet to allocate reserved seats in the National Assembly, as well as the provincial legislatures of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, the parliamentary affairs ministry forwarded a summary to President Arif Alvi, proposing the convening of the National Assembly between February 26-28.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) holds a clear majority in the Sindh Assembly, while the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) asserts a comfortable majority in Punjab, aiming to form its own government. Both parties have forged an alliance to collectively establish the government at the Centre.
Conversely, a significant number of independent candidates backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) secured victory in the February 8 elections. To ensure their representation in the reserved seats, they aligned with the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
In a notification issued on Thursday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not allocate any seats to the SIC. However, sources reveal that the SIC had submitted an application for reserved seat allocation, citing its legislative presence. The ECP is expected to announce its decision on Friday (today).
The Punjab Assembly would hold its inaugural session on Friday (today), in which the newly-elected provincial lawmakers (MPAs) would take oath, according to a notification issued by Governor Balighur Rehman on Thursday.
In Lahore, the Punjab Assembly will convene at 10am, marking the first legislature session since the general elections. Speaker Sibtain Khan will preside over the session and administer the oath to the new MPAs.
Despite challenges to the election results by PTI-backed independents in several Punjab constituencies, the PML-N asserts it has garnered sufficient seats to establish the government. To achieve this in Punjab, the party would need backing from 186 MPAs.
In the February 8 elections, the PML-N secured 137 seats. On Friday, it was assigned 36 reserved seats for women and five for minorities, raising its total strength in the 397-seat house to 178. However, the party contends it enjoys support from over 190 MPAs.
The PML-N has nominated Maryam Nawaz as its candidate for the chief ministership. If the claim of the support of the 190 MPAs was true, then Maryam would easily become the first ever female chief minister in the country’s history.
Here, the PTI has 110 independents, but when it decided to join the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), 105 of the independents submitted affidavits with the ECP. The PPP secured 10 seats and got three reserved seats. The PML-Quaid got two reserved seats and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan (IPP) received one.
The PTI had nominated Mian Aslam Iqbal for the position of the chief minister. Earlier, the PTI had called a protest outside the assembly against alleged election rigging but in a late-night development, the party decided to attend the session, according some media reports.
In Sindh, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani will chair the inaugural session. In the general elections, the PPP got 84 seats, followed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) 28 and the PTI-backed 11 independents and 7 others.
Based on this party standing, according to an ECP notification, the PPP got 20 reserved seats for women and six seats reserved for minorities. The MQM got six women’s seats and two minorities seats. One reserved seat for women had been allocated to the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA).
Those notified as the MPAs on reserved seats for women in the Punjab Assembly are Zakia Khan, Ishrat Ashraf, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Azma Zahid Bokhari, Hina Parvez Butt, Salma Saadia Temur, Rahila Naeem, Bushra Anjum Butt, Sania Ashiq Jabeen, Salma Butt, Kanwal Pervez, Mehwish Sultana, Nausheen Adnan, Asma Ehtishamul Haq, Kausar Javed, Uzma Jabeen, Ambreen lsmail, Mumtaz Begum, Sunbal Malik Hussain, Rukhsana Kausar, Shazia Rizwan, Motiya Begum, Rabia Naseem Farooqi, Sonia Ashir, Uzma Kardar, Safia Saeed, Tahia Noon, Amina Hassan, Asma Naz, Tahira Mushtaq, Zaibunnisa Awan, Fatima Begum, Qudsia Batool, Riffat Abbasi, Atiya lftikhar, Rushda Lodhi, Shazia Abid, Neelam Jabbar, Nargis Faiz Malik, Tashfeen Safdar, Salma Saeed and Sarah Ahmad.
Similarly, the MPAs on the reserved seats for minorities in the Punjab Assembly are Falbous Christopher, Emmanuel Ather, Ramesh Singh Arora, Khalil Tahir and Shakeela Javed.
The winners on the women’s seats in Sindh Assembly are Seema Khurram, Tanzila Um-e-Habiba, Rehana Laghari, Yasmeen Shah, Nuhzat Pathan, Syeda Marvi Faseeh, Sadia Javed, Farzana Hanif, Sajeela, Hina Dastagir, Rukhsana Perveen, Heer Soho, Nida Khuhro, Saima Agha, Rooma Sabahat, Arooba Rabbani, Khairunisa, Maleeha Manzoor, Shazia Umar, Shaheena, Sofia Saeed Shah, Sikandar Khatoon, Kiran Masood, Farah Sohail, Quratul Ain Khan, Bilqees Mukhtar, and Fozia Kausar.
Similarly, the MPAs on the reserved seats for minorities in the Sindh Assembly are Hamir Singh, Mukesh Kumar Chawla, Giyanoo Mal, Sham Sunder, Khatumal, Anthony Naveed, Mahesh Kumar Hasija and Aneel Kumar.
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