Amid ruckus, polling underway to elect new Pakistan PM

Islamabad: Amid ruckus by Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) members, voting is underway in the National Assembly to elect 24th prime minister of Pakistan.

For voting, entry and exit points of the House were closed and Speaker Ayaz Sadiq assigned Lobby A to Shehbaz Sharif and Lobby B to Omer Ayub Khan, Geo News reported.

After completion of the voting process, Speaker Sadiq will announce the result.

The candidates for the presidential polls are Shehbaz Sharif, who has the backing of seven allied parties and Omar Ayub Khan, who is the candidate of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which was joined by winners of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidates after the February 8 elections.

To become the prime minister, a candidate will have to secure 169 votes in the 336 member House.

Shehbaz Sharif, expected to become the prime minister for the second time, is likely to receive over 200 votes apart from his own party which combine to form a strength of 205 members, as per The News.

Earlier, Shehbaz Sharif served as the Prime Minister from April 11, 2022 to August 14, 2023.