Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Asad Qaiser and Qasim Suri were sworn in as National Assembly (NA) speaker and deputy speaker respectively on Wednesday, beating out the joint candidates fielded by a fragile opposition alliance in a secret ballot.
Qaiser, a former speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, received 176 votes to PPP stalwart and joint opposition’s candidate Khursheed Shah’s 146. Eight votes were rejected in the tally.
The election for the post of deputy speaker was also won by a PTI candidate: Suri. He garnered 183 votes and edged out Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal’s (MMA) Maulana Asad Mehmood, who received 144 votes.
After the announcement of Qaiser’s victory, the new NA speaker made a round of the opposition benches and shook hands with PPP, PML-N and MMA leaders seated in the front rows of the assembly.
Outgoing speaker Ayaz Sadiq subsequently administered the speaker’s oath to Qaiser amidst loud chants of vote ko izzat do by PML-N lawmakers.
Meanwhile, the oath to the new deputy speaker was administered by the new speaker and his fellow PTI leader, Qaiser.
After taking oath, Suri thanked his voters and vowed to work for the betterment of Balochistan, from where he hails. “I thank every member of the parliament who voted for me,” he said. “I also thank Asad Mehmood.
“The PTI will pay special care to Balochistan. I have entered the parliament with this hope. Under Imran Khan’s leadership we will turn Quetta into little Paris.”