PPP's Syed Awais Shah elected Sindh Assembly speaker

Pakistan People's Party's MPA elected from Sukkur, Awais Qadir Shah was elected speaker of the Sindh Assembly on Sunday.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani announced the result according to which Awais Shah bagged 111 votes. His rival, MQM-P's nominee Advocate Sofia Shah got 36 votes.

Soon after the declaration of results, swearing-in ceremony was held on the floor of the house. 

It may be recalled that the PPP has fielded Awais Shah and Anthony Naveed as candidates for speaker and deputy speaker, respectively, while the MQM-P has nominated Advocate Sofia Shah and Advocate Rashid Khan.

The speaker was elected through secret ballot.

Later, Awais thaned the party leadership for their confidence in him.

Earlier, nine independent members-elect of the Sindh Assembly, backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and one member of the Jamaat-e-Islami took oath.

The session of the assembly started 19 minutes late under the chairmanship of Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani who administered oath to the newly-elected members.

Three members of the People’s Party (PPP) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) did not take oath.

It may be noted that 147 members took oath on Saturday and with the addition of 10 members today, the total number rises to 157. The Election Commission (ECP) had issued notification for 163 members-elect.