LAHORE, Nov 27: The president had called the first session of the Punjab Assembly to enable legislators to take oath under the controversial Legal Framework Order (LFO).

This was stated by the secretary to the Punjab Assembly, Dr.Abul Hasan Najmi, while talking to reporters after the prorogation of the first session of the assembly on Wednesday night.

In response to questions, the secretary said the next session being convened to ascertain the Leader of the House on Friday had also been notified by the president under the LFO.

He said the nominations for the office of chief minister of the province would be received by the assembly secretariat till 9pm on Thursday. The scrutiny of the papers would be held between 9pm and 2am the same night.

He said chief minister of the province could not be elected without voting even if there was only one candidate for the office. It was obligatory under the Constitution to ascertain a member who commands confidence of majority members of the house.

PML-Q parliamentary party leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is expected to be elected as Leader of the House. He is likely to be challenged by PPP leader in the house Qasim Zia in his bid for the slot of chief minister. Qasim is expected to be fielded as a joint candidate by the opposition parties in the provincial assembly.