Presidential elections: Parliament’s joint session summoned on March 9

ISLAMABAD (INP): The joint session of Parliament summoned on March 9 for the presidential elections with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in chair. According to details, the joint session was summoned by NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Saturday, March 9 at 10:00 am.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) earlier announced the schedule for the presidential
elections

According to the ECP schedule, polling for the presidential election will be held on March 9 from 10 am to 4 pm. The electoral college for indirect presidential election comprises of the members of the Senate, National Assembly and four provincial
assemblies.

In the election, the Senate and National Assembly’s members votes are counted as
single votes. The votes cast by the provincial assembly legislators are adjusted so as to give each province an equal share in the election.

Therefore, each provincial assembly has 65 votes equivalent to the strength of Balochistan Assembly, which has minimum number of members.

The weightage of the total members of other provincial legislatures will be decided according to fixed number of 65. It is penitent to mention here that the coalition comprising PML-N, PPP, PML-Q, MQM-P, IPP, BAP, PML-Zia and National Party nominated Asif Ali Zardari for the president’s office.

Meanwhile, PTI and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) nominated Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai for the slot. Out of 336, the alliance has 209 seats in the National Assembly so far while the opposition parties have 104 members with the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) being the largest party in the lower house.