Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz nominee, Maryam Nawaz, has been elected as the first female chief minister of Punjab province amid a boycott of proceedings by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC). The PML-N Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, who has become the first-ever female chief minister of Punjab, won the elections after receiving 220 votes. Her opponent, Sunni Ittehad Council’s (SIC) candidate Rana Aftab Aftab Ahmad, received zero (0) votes due to the boycott. The session, which began at 11:30 am, was presided over by newly-elected Punjab Assembly Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan. The Punjab Assembly session witnessed an uproar as members of the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) boycotted the proceedings. At the start of the session, Speaker Khan said only elections will be held for the chief minster and no lawmaker was allowed to speak in today’s session.

As the SIC MPAs walked out, the speaker formed a committee, comprising  Khawaja Salman Rafique, Salman Nazeer, Samiullah and Khalil Tahir Sindhu, to convince the legislators to return to the Assembly. A day earlier, PML-N clinched victory in the Punjab Assembly speaker and deputy speaker elections in the house numerically dominated by the party. PML-N’s leader Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan was elected as PA Speaker, amassing a commanding 224 votes out of the total 327 cast in the house. At the same time, Malik Zaheer Ahmed Channer, the PML-N candidate for the deputy speaker position, emerged victorious against Mohammad Moinuddin from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), garnering 220 votes.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)