November 28, 2002	Thursday	Ramazan 22, 1423

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LAHORE, Nov 27: PML-Q’s Muhammad Afzal Sahi and Sardar Shaukat Hussain Mazari were elected the Punjab Assembly’s Speaker and Deputy Speaker, respectively, defeating the joint opposition candidates with a big margin on Wednesday.

They were elected in a marathon session of the Punjab Assembly which began with a walkout by the opposition parties — the PPP, the PML-N and the MMA. The walkout of the new assembly was led by PPP’s Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan who accused presiding officer Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi of administering the oath to the members under the LFO and not the Constitution on Monday.

The defeated candidates belonged to the PML-N. They became joint candidates of the entire opposition after the PPP leader in the House, Qasim Zia, had announced withdrawal of his party’s candidates just before the start of polling. The MMA had already announced its support for the PML-N candidates.

MMA leader in the House, Chaudhry Asghar Gujjar, who has not taken his oath yet, was conspicuous by his absence.

After the election, the session was prorogued. The House will now meet on Friday to elect the chief minister.

Out of a total 353 votes cast, Mr Sahi bagged 243 while his rival Rana Mashood Ahmad Khan secured 108. In all, 353 votes were cast out of which two were declared invalid.

Mr Mazari claimed 238 votes against 104 of his rival Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman. In all, 343 votes were cast while one was rejected. Ten male members and two women did not cast their votes.

The PPP aspirants who withdrew in favour of the PML-N candidates were: Raja Riaz Ahmad (Speaker) and Muhammad Ashraf (Deputy Speaker).

The election was conducted through secret ballot. Members cast their votes in two booths improvised in the House. Women were the first to cast the vote.

The election for the office of speaker was conducted by Mr Elahi and that of the deputy speaker by the new incumbent who had to face first pandemonium of his career soon after his swearing-in.

The overwhelming PML-Q members congratulated their winning candidates by thumping the desks. The losing candidates and many members of the opposition also congratulated the new incumbents.