Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was elected prime minister of Pakistan for the second time on Sunday.
Shehbaz, who served as prime minister for 16 months after ouster of the PTI founder in April 2022, polled 201 votes as against 92 of his rival PTI-SIC candidate Omar Ayub Khan.
As Speaker Ayaz Sadiq announced the results, former premier and his elder brother Nawaz Sharif congratulated him. Later, Khawaja Asif and PPP leader Asif Zardari hugged him.
Addressing the House, Shehbaz thanked his elder brother for nominating him for the office of prime minister.
He said the country progressed by leaps and bounds under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif. He called him architect of Pakistan who ended load shedding and made the country a nuclear power.
He also mentioned Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto for their service to the country. Benazir Bhutto laid down her life for democracy, law and justice, he added.
Earlier, the assembly session was due to begin at 11 am but started after almost an hour’s delay.
Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate Omar Ayub Khan are the two contestants for the top slot of the country.
Shehbaz is the favourite candidate to become prime minister as he has the backing of eight parties.
Shehbaz is the member of the powerful Sharif family which has been in Pakistan’s political arena for almost 40 years as his elder brother and three-time prime minister Nawaz was inducted in the Punjab as finance minister during General Zia-ul-Haq regime in 1981.
Omar Ayub, on the other hand, is the grandson of Field Marshal General Ayub Khan who imposed first martial law in the country in 1958. His father Gohar Ayub Khan has been active in politics and remained member of the National Assembly from the platform of the PML-N.
Both the candidates submitted their nomination papers to the National Assembly Secretariat, which were declared valid by Speaker Ayaz Sadiq after the scrutiny, conducted in the presence of the leaders from both sides.
Omar Ayub had raised an objection against Shehbaz’s nomination, saying the PML-N leader was ‘gifted’ his seat through manipulation in Form-47. He said he could not contest the PM election because he had lost as per Form-45. He has been wrongly administered the oath as MNA and thus cannot be a candidate for the prime minister’s position, Mr Ayub said in a tweet. The objection was rejected.
Besides the PML-N, Shehbaz has the backing of the PPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, BAP, PML-Z, IPP, and the NP having a total of 205 members. Two MNAs-elect from the MQM-P and PPP have yet to take oath. In order to become the leader of the house, a candidate requires 169 votes in the 336-member house.
On the other hand, the PTI has 102 lawmakers, of which one member has not taken the oath.
Meanwhile, the JUI-F and BNP-Mengal are likely to boycott the poll.
It may be recalled that 304 members have taken oath while the ECP has withheld the notification of reserved seats for women and minorities as it has not yet decided on the plea of PTI-SIC for their quota of reserved seats.
At the start of the session, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq administered oath to the memebers who could not attend the opening meeting of the assembly. Later, the speaker read the procedure to be adopted for the election and asked the members who favoured Shehbaz to go to the right of him and those who would vote for Omar to his left side.
Meanwhile, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, former president Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have reached the parliament House for the vote.
Earlier, the newly-elected members started arriving at the Parliament House at around 10 am. The PML-N members were feted with a sumptuous breakfast at the speaker’s banquet hall.
THE PROCEDURE
On the order of the speaker, the bells will be rung for five minutes before the election process of the prime minister begins. The purpose of ringing the bells is to gather all the members inside the assembly hall.
No one will be allowed to go out of the hall or come in until the leader of the House is elected.
At the end of the voting, the Speaker will announce the results.
