The National Assembly will meet on Tuesday to elect the new leader of the house (prime minister) after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif by the apex court, it is learnt. According to sources, President Mamnoon Hussain will summon the National Assembly on Tuesday (August 1) under 54 (1) of the Constitution to elect a new leader of the house for lower house of the parliament. However, National Assembly has not issued any notification so far. The sources said that National Assembly session is likely to be held at 3:00pm at Parliament House. The ministry of parliamentary affairs has already sent a summary to the President for convening NA session.
They said political parties will submit nomination papers of their respective candidates on Monday with National Assembly's Secretariat. According to Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in National Assembly, for election of Prime Minster, rule 32 states, "whenever the office of the Prime Minister falls vacant for any reason, the Assembly shall, to the exclusion of any other business, proceed to elect without debate one of its Muslim members to be the Prime Minister.
(4) A candidate may be nominated by more than one nomination paper, but no member shall subscribe to more than one nomination paper, either as proposer or as seconder.
(5) Every nomination paper shall be delivered by the candidate or his proposer or seconder to the Secretary by 2.00pm on the day preceding the day on which the election of Prime Minister is to be held.
According to Rule 33, the NA speaker shall, in the presence of the candidates or their proposers or seconders who may wish to be present, scrutinize the nomination papers and may reject a nomination paper if he is satisfied that - (a) the candidate is not a member of the Assembly; (b) any provision of rule 32 has not been complied with; or (c) the signature of the proposer, the seconder or the candidate is not genuine: (a)the rejection of a nomination paper shall not invalidate the nomination in respect of a candidate by any other valid nomination paper; and (b) the Speaker shall not reject a nomination paper on the ground of any defect, which is not of substantial nature and may allow any such defect to be remedied forthwith. (2) The Speaker shall endorse on each nomination paper his decision accepting or rejecting it and shall, in case of rejection, record briefly the reasons therefore. (3) The decision of the Speaker accepting or rejecting a nomination paper shall be final. Under rule 34, a candidate may withdraw his candidature at any time before the election takes place."