ISLAMABAD, May 31: A majority of the Opposition parties on Monday rejected Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA) secretary-general, as their leader in the National Assembly , after mounting a vigourous challenge to the Speaker's choice of Opposition leader made last week.

The Opposition parties grouped in the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) coalition - mainly the People's Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-N - and their smaller allies also staged a token walkout in protest and threatened to go to court to challenge Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain's nomination for Oppositon leader on grounds that their own party nominee, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, enjoyed the declared support of 80 members of the lower house as compared to the MMA's 67 members and thus deserved to be named for the office under the House rules of procedure.

The challenge was mounted through points of order at the start of the assembly's budget session on Monday evening. Rule 2 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the National Assembly says: "Leader of the Opposition means a member who, in the opinion of the Speaker, is for the time being leader of majority of the members in the Opposition."

The MMA and its backers on the Treasury benches relied on 86 votes polled by the Maulana when he challenged Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali in the election for prime minister in November 2002 while PPP contender Shah Mahmood Qureshi came third with 70 votes. But in that election, the PML-N, with 18 members in the House, and Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf President Imran Khan had voted for the MMA candidate to be prime minister and they had all later signed for Mr Amin as Opposition leader.

As the ARD and its allies were staging a token walkout, the Speaker ruled out their objections saying that his decisions were binding and could not be criticised inside or outside the House.