- PTI-SIC candidate raises objections against nomination of PML-N-led coalition’s candidate
- Rules say a candidate requires 169 votes in 336-member parliament to be elected as premier
ISLAMABAD: The newly-stitched National Assembly is to set elect the Prime Minister on Sunday (tomorrow) as nomination papers of both the aspirants for the coveted post – Coalition parties candidate Shehbaz Sharif and PTI-SIC candidate Omar Ayub Khan – were cleared on Saturday.
The coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has named Shehbaz Sharif as its candidate for the coveted post for a second term while Omar Ayub Khan is vying as candidate of PTI-SIC for the post.
According to rules, a candidate requires 169 votes in the 336-member parliament to be elected as the premier.
Leaders of coalition parties including Khawaja Asif, Khurshid Shah, Attaullah Tarar and Tariq Bashir Cheema filed the nomination papers of Shehbaz Sharif.
Whereas PTI leaders Asad Qaiser, Aamir Dogar, Ali Muhammad Khan, and Barrister Gohar Khan filed the nomination of Omar Ayub Khan.
The nomination papers for the two candidates were received by Secretary-General National Assembly Tahir Hussain.
Later, the National Assembly Secretariat cleared nomination papers of both the candidates after scrutiny.
Under the election rules, presence of proposers and endorsers during the scrutiny of nomination papers is mandatory.
PM election process
The election for the PM would be conducted through the division of members in the house.
As per the Constitution, before the voting process begins for the slot of prime minister, bells will ring for five minutes inside the Parliament House to inform every member — in case they are not present in the chamber at the moment — to gather inside.
Once the process begins, the doors will be locked, and no one will be allowed to enter or leave the hall till the PM’s election is concluded.
For example, if there are two candidates, the speaker will say that ‘whoever wants to vote for candidate A can go to lobby A’ and ‘whoever wants to vote for candidate B, can go to lobby B’.
If there are three candidates then there can be a lobby C as well.
At the entrance of the said lobbies, a member of the assembly secretariat staff will record the name of every member of the National Assembly in the register.
The whole process will be open and people sitting in the galleries will be able to see who votes for whom. The political parties have to vote collectively and every member has to vote for the candidate that their party is voting for.
Section 91(4) of the Constitution states, “The Prime Minister shall be elected by the votes of the majority of the total membership of the National Assembly: Provided that, if no member secures such a majority in the first poll, a second poll shall be held between the members who secure the two highest numbers of votes in the first poll and the member who secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting shall be declared to have been elected as Prime Minister:
Provided further that, if the number of votes secured by two or more members securing the highest number of votes is equal, further poll shall be held between them until one of them secures a majority of votes of the members present and voting.”
Omar Ayub raises objection against Shehbaz’s PM candidacy
Meanwhile, PTI-SIC candidate for prime minister, Omar Ayub Khan on Saturday officially raised objections against the nomination papers of PML-N-led coalition’s candidate for prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
In a statement shared on social media, Ayub claimed that Sharif had acquired the constituency through manipulation of Form-47 on February 9, a day after the general election.
“He had lost the constituency 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,” maintained the PTI leader.
Earlier on Friday, PML-N member Ayaz Sadiq was elected speaker of the National Assembly following election held on the basis of secret ballot and the results were announced by the outgoing speaker Raja Pervez Ashraf.
According to results, Ayaz Sadiq obtained 199 votes while his rival PTI-SIC nominee Aamir Dogar got 91 votes. A total 291 votes were polled and one was rejected. After the election, Ayaz Sadiq went to Aamir Dogar and shook hands with him. He also shook hands with Hamid Raza and Omar Ayub Khan.
