Newly elected lawmakers sworn-in in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The 331 newly elected members of the 15th National Assembly of Pakistan took the Oath of their Offices on Monday morning in the inaugural Session of the 342-member Lower House of the Parliament in Islamabad following the July 25 elections.

The Outgoing Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq administered the Oath to the newly elected members of the House. He also welcomed the new lawmakers, and read out the procedure for election of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly to be held on Wednesday.

After the Oath taking, all members of the House signed the Member of Parliament register in alphabetical order.

Warm felicitations to the newly elected members of the 15th National Assembly of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 🇵🇰 #NationalAssembly #OathTaking pic.twitter.com/urwfbbmztQ

— National Assembly of Pakistan (@NAofPakistan) August 13, 2018

The Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and who is also the Prime Minister in-waiting Imran Khan, the President Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Shahbaz Sharif, and the Chairman Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari among other members took the Oath of their Offices.

Earlier, the inaugural Session of the National Assembly began with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by a Naat, indicating a change in the mind set in corridors of power as it was for the first time after 1977 that a Naat was recited in the House.

The elections for the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly will be held on Wednesday, for which nomination papers could be submitted in the Office of the Secretary National Assembly by tomorrow (Tuesday).

The PTI has nominated Asad Qaiser while the Joint Opposition comprising 11 political parties has fielded PPP’s Syed Khursheed Shah for the Slot of Speaker.

Earlier the Chairman PTI Imran Khan presided over the Party’s Parliamentary Party meeting at the Parliament House.

It is worth mentioning there that after notification on reserved seats by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), PTI’s tally has reached 158 members in the National Assembly, PML-N 82, PPP 53, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) 15, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) seven, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) five, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) five and Balochistan National Party (BNP) four.

Meanwhile, the inaugural Sessions of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan Assemblies also took place in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta respectively. During the Sessions, the newly elected members of the provincial assemblies took the Oath of their Offices.

The first Session of the Punjab Assembly will be held at 10:00 m on Wednesday.