Sindh assemby elelcts speaker

Thursday, May 30, 2013

KARACHI: Provincial Sindh assembly Thursday elected Agha Siraj Durrani as the speaker with convenient majority but the election of the deputy speaker was disrupted after a glaring mistake was found at the ballot papers commanding re-polling.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated Durrani as its candidate for the speaker seat whereas Muttahida Qaumi Movement named Khawja Izharul Haq as its candidate whereas the two Muslim Leagues of Nawaz Sharif and Pir Pagara fielded Irfan Marfat as their joint candidate.

Durrani, whose father and grandfather were also elected as speakers, obtained 87 votes to win whereas Haq got 48 votes and Marwat stood at the third postion with 18 votes.

The PPP members of the parliament thumped the desks to celebrate Durrani’s election as the speaker who replaced Nisar Khoro and took over the speaker after taking oath.

However, the provincial assembly witnessed pandemonium when the elections for the deputy speakers were going on. For the position Shahla Raza of PPP was the contestant and inadvertently some other name was printed in her place.

The mistake was realized when some 60 votes were cast and that stirred a hot debate between the PPP, MQM and the Muslim League candidates.

However, the newly elected speaker ruled that re-polling would be carried to rectify the mistake. Raza was, however, in strong position to win the deputy speaker elections as the PPP members of assembly were in full strength to vote her to the deputy speaker seat.

Earlier, MQM the former alliance of PPP, decided to sit in opposition benches at the provincial Sindh assembly and in the national assembly.

The party nominated Dr Farooq Sattar as the parliamentarian leader and Rasheed Godial as his deputy in the national assembly.

Faisal Sabzwari and Khawja Izharul Haq would act as the MQM parliamentarian leader and deputy leader in the provincial assembly of Sindh.

By Mohammad Ashraf Correspondent