ISLAMABAD, March 18: The nomination papers of Dr Fehmida Mirza and Faisal Karim Kundi of the Pakistan People’s Party and Sardar Israr Tareen and Khushbakht Shujaat of the opposition led by the PML-Q for the posts of speaker and deputy speaker of the National Assembly were accepted after scrutiny on Tuesday.

Dr Mirza from Badin is set to make history by becoming the first woman speaker of the lower house of parliament.

Begum Ashraf Abbasi of the PPP had served as deputy speaker during 1972-77.

Dr Mirza was provided official protocol after her nomination papers were accepted.

The final list of candidates is expected to be issued on Wednesday morning, hours before the election.

Six nomination papers were filed for Dr Mirza and four for Mr Kundi. They were proposed by Khurshid Shah, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Sherry Rehman, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Arbab Zahir, Dr Azra Fazal, Maulana Mohammad Sadiq and Farzana Raja.

Former chief minister of Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, Iqbal Mohammad Ali, Abdul Qadir Khanzada, Dr Donya Aziz, S. Iqbal Qadri and Amir Muqam proposed the opposition’s candidates, Sardar Tareen and Ms Shujaat. Dr Mirza belongs to a political family of Sindh. She has won on a general seat.

Mr Kundi, 31, defeated Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam by a huge margin.

Dr Mirza told Dawn that she was becoming the speaker at a difficult time in the country’s history, but as a political worker she was confident of running the house without much difficulty.

She said the nation pinned high hopes on the new parliament and she would expect the parliamentarians to come to the house fully prepared and take part in legislation for the welfare of the masses.

About her immediate targets, she said she would like to strengthen the house committee system and give the media access to the committees.

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, talking to media personnel on the occasion of the filing of nomination papers sarcastically suggested to the PPP to take his alliance’s candidate Farooq Sattar if it could not find a suitable person for the prime minister’s post.

Former chief minister Pervaiz Elahi said he wished the new assemblies and government would complete their constitutional tenure so that people could compare its performance with that of the previous government.

Mr Tareen, the PML-Q’s candidate for the post of speaker, said he did not expect any miracle but hoped to poll more votes than the number of opposition lawmakers in the house.

The election for the speaker’s post will be held through secret ballot and incumbent Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain will announce the name of the successful candidate.

He will invite the new speaker to take oath and conduct the election of the deputy speaker.