LAHORE: The Punjab session witnessed a brief ruckus on Monday as members of the opposition Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) boycotted the proceedings after being barred from speaking
At the start of the session, Speaker Malik Ahmad Khan Khan administered the oath to the two MPAs and then assured the legislators that he would run the House without any bias.
The Speaker then directed the Secretary of the Assembly to inform the members about the progress of the vote.
Once this was completed, the SIC CM candidate asked the speaker to address the House on a point of order but was barred from speaking.
“At today’s session, only the election for the chief minister will be held. You cannot speak in today’s session,” Speaker Khan told the SIC candidate as he struggled to speak.
The SIC members later walked out of the assembly to register their protest against what they said was a “stolen mandate”.
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When 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.
The committee successfully pacified the SIC members, who then ended the boycott and rejoined the assembly. However, they later staged the walk again. The Chairman started the voting process for the election of the CM without the SIC members.
Earlier, PML-N candidate Maryam Nawaz, who has a majority in the House, arrived at the compound and was warmly welcomed by the party leaders.
Maryam, who is the senior vice-president of the Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), became a member of the provincial assembly, winning the February 8 general election from constituency 159 Lahore-XV.
