• Election for speaker to take place during NA session at 3:00pm on April 22. 
• Schedule was changed by acting speaker Qasim Suri, per announcement.
• Speaker’s seat has been lying vacant since Asad Qaiser’s resignation on April 9.

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) Secretariat on Wednesday announced that the election for the seat of the speaker will be held on April 22 during the NA session at 3:00pm, reported The News. 

According to the announcement, the session that was set to take place on Saturday afternoon will now be held on April 22 (Friday).

The NA Secretariat said that the schedule was changed by acting speaker Qasim Suri under rule 49 Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007. 

Earlier, it was announced that the election for the NA speaker will be held on April 16 (Saturday). According to the revised schedule, the nomination papers for the office of the NA speaker will be submitted tomorrow (Friday).

The speaker’s seat has been lying vacant following the resignation of ex-speaker Asad Qaiser on April 9 — who announced to quit while refusing to conduct voting on the no-confidence resolution against Imran Khan last Saturday.

Qasim Suri is retaining his NA membership and the deputy speaker slot on account of an order by the apex court. There would be secret balloting for the election of the speaker as per Rule 9 of Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly, 2007.

The joint candidate of the allied government is likely to be elected unopposed as resignations of the members of the PTI have been received by the NA Secretariat. However, the chair will announce the name of a successful candidate during proceedings of the House.

The leadership of the PPP, which has been offered the slot of the speaker, will consider nominating former prime minister Raja Parvaiz Ashraf or Syed Naveed Qamar for the slot.