A petition had been moved to Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday challenging the delay in the National Assembly session to elect a new speaker of the house.
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)’s lawmaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi had filed the said petition. Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Suri, secretary NA and secretary parliamentary affairs had been named as respondents in the case. The petition said that a circular had been issued on April 13, to summon the assembly session on April 22, which it claimed was against the law. It prayed the court to issue instructions to summon the session on April 16, to elect a new speaker of the house. Earlier, acting Speaker Qasim Suri changed the schedule of the NA session to be held for the election of the speaker.
The NA Secretariat had earlier announced that the election for the seat of speaker would be held on April 16 at 04:00 pm, with receipt of nomination papers on April 15.
However, it was notified on Thursday that the session would be held on April 22 (Friday), instead of April 16.
The NA Secretariat said the schedule was changed by the acting speaker under rule 49 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007. The speaker’s seat has been lying vacant following the resignation of ex-speaker Asad Qaiser on April 9, who announced to quit while refusing to conduct voting on the no-confidence resolution against former premier Imran Khan. There will be secret balloting for the election of the speaker as per Rule 9 of Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.
