ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) was moved against Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Suri for convening the assembly session on April 22. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N)’s lawmaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi on Thursday filed a petition in the IHC challenging the Deputy Speaker’s order to convene the National Assembly Session on April 22.

Deputy Speaker Suri, Secretary Parliamentary Affairs, and Secretary Assembly were made parties in the petition. The petition contends that the April 13 order to adjourn the National Assembly till April 22 was unconstitutional.

The petitioner prayed to the court to direct the deputy speaker to immediately convene a session for the election of the speaker of the assembly and to cease Suri from exercising the powers of the speaker.

The court also asked to direct the secretary Parliamentary Affairs and secretary National Assembly to convene a meeting on April 16. A day earlier, the assembly had issued a schedule for the election of a speaker, sending letters to all members of the house in this regard.

The election was to be held in the next sitting of the National Assembly on April 16 (Saturday) while nomination papers could be submitted for the slot till April 15 (Friday) at 2pm with the secretary National Assembly. The nomination papers could be obtained from the legislative branch of the house. The election of the speaker would be held under Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly 2007.

The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Asad Qaiser who stepped down before the Supreme Court’s deadline for the vote of no-confidence motion against former Prime Minister Imran Khan was to expire.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022