The newly elected members of the Punjab Assembly will take oath today at the inaugural session of the provincial legislature. Out of five assemblies that went to the polls on Feb 8, the Punjab Assembly is the first house convening its opening session, slated to take place at 10am on Friday. Punjab Governor Baligh Ur Rehman has issued a notification in this regard. Speaker Sibtain Khan will administer the oath to the newly elected members. The announcement about the assembly’s session comes a day after a parliamentary meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) elected members took place at Jati Umra in Lahore. Party sources claimed a total of 218 members participated in the meeting, which included independent members and PMLN MPAs, while the members nominated for specific seats were also included. Sources said 137 successful candidates of PMLN, 58 women nominated for specific seats and more than 22 independent members, who joined the PMLN after the elections, were present. It merits a mention that 186 members were required to form the government. Among the newly elected members, Maryam Nawaz will be one of the new entrants to step foot inside the provincial legislature as an elected member. She is also nominated as the party’s candidate for the chief minister slot after her victory from both the national and provincial assembly seats – NA-119 and PP-159, respectively – in the February 8 polls. If voted into power, Maryam will become the first woman to be elected as a chief minister in Pakistan’s seven-decade-plus history. She will take over the province with a population of more than 127 million people, more than half of Pakistan’s population. Separately, Sindh Governor Sindh Kamran Tessori has approved Caretaker Chief Minster Sindh Maqbool Baqar’s recommendation and called the first session of the Sindh Assembly tomorrow. The session for the oath-taking of the newly elected MPAs will be held at 10am. It is pertinent to mention that the PPP emerged victorious after bagging a record 84 general seats in the Sindh Assembly. With reserved seats for women and minorities, the PPP’s strength in the Sindh Assembly would be over 100 for the first time. Out of 130 general seats, results of 130 have been announced according to which Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has grabbed 28 provincial assembly seats. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidates have so far won 14 while Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) grabbed two constituencies. Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) secured victory on two seats while three independents also emerged victorious from three seats.