Pakistan: PPP leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf submits nomination papers for NA speaker

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader and former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Friday submitted his nomination papers for the National Assembly Speaker's slot.

As per NA Secretariat sources, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has a high chance of getting elected speaker, since no other NA member has submitted their nomination papers and the deadline has ended, reported Geo News.

The seat fell vacant during last week's political escalation when Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI's) Asad Qaiser stepped down from office on April 9 -- on the day Islamabad witnessed intense political activities when the voting on the no-confidence motion was set to take place.

But Qaiser -- being a PTI and Imran Khan loyalist -- delayed the session as much as he could before resigning minutes before midnight, as the Supreme Court's deadline for holding the vote on the no-trust motion was about to end.

Following his resignation, MNA Ayaz Sadiq chaired the session, and on April 10 at midnight, Khan was voted out of power, making him the first prime minister to be ousted through the democratic process.

Meanwhile, acting speaker Qasim Suri has also changed the schedule of the sitting of the lower house of parliament from April 16 to April 22, when the election of the deputy speaker is scheduled to take place, reported Geo News.

( With inputs from ANI )

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor