Punjab Assembly likely to meet on March 8

Only members of assembly who have taken oath will be authorised to cast their votes in presidential polls

LAHORE:

Punjab Assembly session is likely to be called on March 8 for the oath taking of the members elected on reserved seats.

After rejecting the request of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) for reserved seats, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had started the process of allotting them to other parliamentary parties, issuing a notification in this regard.

The members of the PML-N, PPP and other parties elected on reserved seats will be sworn in during the provincial assembly session.

The Punjab Assembly meeting will be called a day before the presidential election after the notification by the election supervisor, assembly sources maintained.

According to sources, only members of the assembly who have taken oath will be authorised to cast their votes in the presidential elections.

Punjab Assembly speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan will administer the oath to 21 members elected on reserved seats.

On Monday, the ECP’s last year’s decision to strip the PTI of its election symbol came back to haunt the former ruling party once again.

The polls oversight authority refused to allocate reserved seats to the SIC – which comprises PTI backed lawmakers – just because it had not submitted a “priority list” for them prior to polls.