How is the prime minister elected?

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly (2007), the speaker must, before the voting process begins, instruct that bells be rung for five minutes. This allows members who are not currently in the chamber to join. Subsequently, when the bells cease, all entrances to the lobby are locked, and assembly staff at each entrance prevent any entry or exit until the voting concludes.

Following this, the speaker will read aloud the names of validly nominated candidates who have not withdrawn, in the order of their received nomination papers. The poll will then be conducted in accordance with the procedure outlined in the Second Schedule. Members wishing to vote in favour of the candidate[s] will be directed by the speaker to pass in a single file through the entrance where tellers will record their votes.

Upon reaching the teller's desk, each member will, in turn, announce their division number as per the rules. The tellers will mark off the number on the division list while simultaneously calling out the member's name. To ensure proper recording, members must not leave until their name is clearly announced. After recording their vote, members must not return to the Chamber until the bells ring again.

Read NA to elect leader of house on Sunday

Once the speaker confirms that all members who wished to vote have done so, they will announce the conclusion of the voting. The secretary will then collect the division list, count the recorded votes, and present the result to the speaker. Subsequently, the speaker will instruct the bells to ring for two minutes to allow members to return to the Chamber. After the bells cease, the speaker will announce the voting results to the Assembly.

Upon tallying the votes, if there is only one candidate and they secure the majority of the total membership, the speaker will declare them elected as the leader of the house or the prime minister. However, if the sole candidate fails to secure the majority, all proceedings restart.

In the case of two or more candidates, if none secures a majority in the first poll, a second poll will be held between the two candidates with the highest votes. The candidate securing a majority of the votes from the present and voting members will be declared the elected prime minister.

In the event of a tie between two or more candidates with the highest votes, further polls will be conducted until one of them secures a majority of the votes from the present and voting members.

PM candidates

A day earlier, the coalition candidate for the office of prime minister, PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif, and the PTI nominee for the post, Omar Ayub, submitted their nomination papers.

Leaders of coalition parties including Khawaja Asif, Khurshid Shah, Attaullah Tarar and Tariq Bashir Cheema were present to submit Shehbaz's papers.

For PTI, party leaders Asad Qaiser, Aamir Dogar, Ali Muhammad, and Barrister Gohar Khan were in attendance to submit Ayub's nomination papers.

The nomination papers for the two candidates were received by Secretary-General National Assembly Tahir Hussain.