The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that independent candidates, a majority of them supported by the PTI secured 101 seats, followed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 75 seats, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) getting 54 seats, and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagging 17 seats. Other parties got 17 seats, while the result of one constituency was withheld.The formation of a new government would take some time.According to the sources, the newly elected members of the assemblies should submit their election expense details by February 18, which will be followed by the Election Commission of Pakistan issuing a notification of the elected members by February 22.Within the next three days, all the independent candidates should join a political party, followed by the allocation of 60 women reserved seats and 10 minority reserved seats to the political parties.The next stage would be the meeting of the National Assembly to administer oaths to the new members. The President is bound to call the session by February 29 but sources said the session in the case of the National Assembly could be held on February 26, while the provincial assemblies could be summoned on the same or the following day.Once the oath is administered, the new lawmakers will become regular members of their respective houses. It would be followed by the election of speakers, deputy speakers, and prime minister in case of National Assembly and chief ministers in the provincial assemblies will commence, the sources said.The elections were held on February 8 and the first session of the assembly should be called within 21 days after the day of the polls.As all hurdles about the formation of the new government have been resolved, it is expected that a fresh setup will be in place by the beginning of next month.
Source link
