Speaker and deputy speaker will be chosen in Sindh Assembly today.

Voting will take place by a secret ballot; session begins after a delay.

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly will hold elections for speaker and deputy speaker on Sunday, one day after freshly elected members took oath under tight security.

The session, which was supposed to begin at 11 a.m. today, started later than expected. Agha Siraj Durrani, Speaker of the Sindh Assembly, is chairing the session.

The papers for both positions have been reviewed, and voting will take place using a secret ballot. The arrangements in this respect have been finalized.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) nominated Owais Qadir Shah and Anthony Naveed for the seats of speaker and deputy speaker, respectively. The nomination papers for both candidates have been deemed valid.

Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has chosen Sofia Saeed Shah as speaker and Rashid Khan as deputy speaker. Their documents have likewise been deemed legitimate.

A day earlier, at least 148 newly elected Sindh Assembly members took oath in the House of 168, while parties marched through the streets to protest the alleged fraud of the February 8 elections.

The Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), PTI, and Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi) had planned a combined “peaceful” demonstration outside the assembly.

However, the atmosphere became hot before to the swearing-in event, when numerous workers, including women, battled with the police party stationed there to maintain order.