Following President Arif Alvi’s refusal, the National Assembly Secretariat has scheduled a session of the lower house of parliament for February 29 at 10 a.m.
According to a statement issued on Monday, the NA session must take place on the 21st day of the general elections under Article 91 of the Constitution.
According to secretariat officials, the president could have called the session on the 21st, but he chose not to.
The NA secretariat stated that the president and speaker’s notification is not required to convene the session on the 21st day of the election.
Earlier today, sources told Geo News that departing Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf has “decided” to call the inaugural session of the new lower house of parliament on February 29.
The development occurred shortly after President Arif Alvi reportedly rejected a summary to convene the NA session, during which MNAs-elect will take oath.
Alvi argued that the NA was incomplete without the granting of all reserved seats to political parties.
While the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has allotted reserved seats to political parties, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) has not received a reserved quota since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-backed independent candidates joined their ranks.
The ECP, however, stated that the issue of SIC reserved seats is “pending before the commission”.
The PML-N-led alliance, which claimed the majority in the February 8 general elections, was of the opinion that the NA session must be held within 21 days of the elections, what their leadership said as per the Constitution.
The sources said that the decision was made during an emergency meeting headed by NA speaker and attended by the officials of the NA Secretariat and constitutional experts.
