Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Assembly elected on Thursday its speakers and deputy speakers.
Babar Salim Swati, representing the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) and backed by PTI-affiliated independents, has been chosen as the new Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly. Swati garnered 89 votes, defeating PPP’s Ehsanullah Miankhel who secured 17 votes. The oath of office was administered to Swati by outgoing Speaker Mushtaq Ghani.
Swati, who serves as the PTI’s divisional president in Hazara and holds the position of MPA-elect from PK-37, assumes the role of Speaker.
Additionally, Suraiya Bibi, an MPA from Chitral supported by the PTI and affiliated with the Sunni Ittehad Council, has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly. She becomes the second woman to hold this position in the KP assembly, following PTI’s Dr. Mehar Taj Roghani, who held the post in 2015.
Bibi secured 87 votes, surpassing the opposition’s nominee, Arbab Wasim Hayat, who received 19 votes.
Meanwhile, PML-N’s Abdul Khaliq Achakzai was elected speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, while PPP’s Ghazala Gola was elected deputy speaker.
Both won their respective positions unopposed as no other candidates submitted nomination papers.
On Wednesday, senior member of the assembly, Zamrak Khan Piralizai, administered oath to the Balochistan lawmakers in the absence of outgoing speaker Mir Muhammad Khan Jamali.
