QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly will elect the leader of the house in a session on Saturday.

The six-party alliance in the province has nominated Jam Mir Kamal Khan Alyani of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for the slot of the chief minister. He enjoys the support of Awami National Party, Hazara Democratic Party, Jamhoori Watan Party, Balochistan National Party-Awami and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf.

Mr Alyani submitted his nomination papers on Thursday. As no other candidate filed his/her nomination papers for the post till the time given for the purpose ended at 5pm on Thursday, Mr Alyani set to become leader of the house unopposed. But on the request of opposition members led by Sana Baloch of Balochistan National Party-Mengal, Speaker Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo extended the deadline for a day and Younis Aziz Zehri of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal submitted his nomination papers on Friday.

“Everything is going smoothly in the province as we have completed the first phase in the assembly after electing speaker and deputy speaker,” Mr Alyani told reporters on Friday.

Answering a question about extension in the deadline for submitting nomination papers for the election for the leader of the house, he said that the opposition members had some doubts about the rule of business. The coalition partners had no objection over the speaker’s decision of extending the deadline, he added.

“BNP-M and MMA have unanimously nominated Mr Zehri as opposition candidate for the slot. We have support of one member of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party,” Naseer Shahwani of BNP-M said.

The speaker called the session at 11am. The leader of the house will be elected by secret ballot.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2018