Islamabad, July 25: The newly elected representatives of PaK Legislative Assembly on Monday elected Sardar Ghulam Sadiq as speaker and Shaheen Kousar Dar as the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative body.
 Sadiq, the PPP nominated candidate bagged 36 votes whereas his rival candidate from Pakistan Muslim League-N managed to get 10 votes only. The lady speaker (Dar) whose ancestors had migrated from Poonch district secured 35 votes.
 Earlier, Chaudhry Anwar-ul-Haq the outgoing speaker while chairing the maiden session administered oath to 45 elected members of the house.
 Two members of PML-N, Raja Farooq and Tariq Farooq did not take oath today while two seats remained vacant in 49-member Legislative Assembly. Following the oath taking ceremony, newly elected members voted for new Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
 The PPP nominated Sardar Ghulam Sadiq as Speaker and Shaheen Kausar Dar as Deputy Speaker of PaK Legislative Assembly.
 Pertinently, out of the total 49 member House, Pakistan Peoples Party led by Chaudhry Majeed, leads with 29 seats while PML-N and Muslim Conference have 10 and 5 seats respectively. However, the PPP, which further cemented its position in the legislature after bagging six out of eight reserved seats on Sunday, is all set to elect its prime minister in the region for next 5-year constitutional term.
 The legislative body is due to meet on Tuesday to elect new leader of the House. Chaudhry Majeed the president of Pakistan Peoples Party is being widely speculated as the region’s next Prime Minister,  however, there are three other potential contenders for the prime ministerial slot that include the former PaK premier Barrister Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry and Secretary General of PPP Chaudhry Latif Akbar and Chaudhry Yasin.
 According to schedule issued for the election of president, the nomination paper would be filed and checked on July 28 and the voting would be held on July 30. Incumbent President’s tenure will get over on August 25 and after that the new president will replace him.
 It may be recalled here that out of five seats reserved for women MC yet again succeeded in seeking a seat for Mehar-un-Nissa the former Deputy Speaker by getting support of the PPP members.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jul 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 26 Jul 2011 00:00:00 IST