The first session of the Punjab Assembly began on Friday in which the newly-elected lawmakers were administered oath.

On Thursday, Punjab Governor Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman called the first session of the Punjab Assembly since the elections were held.

The session was called under Article 109 read with Article 130(2) of the 1973 Constitution.

In this session, newly-elected MPAs were administered oath by Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan.

The outgoing Punjab Assembly speaker congratulated all MPAs on assuming their new role and wished them success.

“And I am saying this personally that may God also give you courage to listen to each other patiently,” Sibtain said.

After the oath of the members, the process of election of the Punjab Assembly Speaker and Deputy Speaker was supposed to start. During the session today, PA speaker’s secretary announced this will now happen on Saturday.

He said elections will be held under Rules 9 and 10 of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, 1997.

He added that the nomination papers have to be submitted before 5pm today.

The scrutiny of the papers for the slot of the speaker will be done at 5:10pm while that of the deputy speaker’s slot will be done at 5:20pm.

Punjab Assembly session to be held on Friday to swear-in newly elected members

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has secured 137 Punjab Assembly seats and with the inclusion of 22 independents in the party fold as well as calculating its reserved seats, it has achieved a simple majority in the House.

In the Punjab Assembly, as many as 186 seats are required for a simple majority.