Daily Times

PPP’s Syed Murad Ali Shah was elected the chief minister of Sindh on Monday after comfortably securing a lead against MQM-P’s Ali Khurshidi.

Murad, chief executive of the province for the third time now, secured 112 votes compared to Khurshidi’s 36. A total of 148 votes were cast during polling.

Lawmakers from the JI and PTI did not cast their votes and PTI-aligned MPAs chanted slogans against the election.

The voting to elect the new chief minister commenced earlier after newly elected speaker Syed Owais Qadir Shah read out the rules for the polling process.

On Sunday, Owais Shah from the PPP seized the position of speaker in the Sindh Assembly, while Anthony Naveed secured the role of deputy speaker with a resounding majority on Sunday.

Shah garnered 111 votes in his favour, surpassing the 36 votes obtained by Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) candidate Sofia Saeed. The voting took place in the presence of 157 members of the provincial assembly.

Earlier, 147 newly elected members of the Sindh Assembly took their oaths of membership on Saturday.

As per the Election Commission of Pakistan’s results, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) emerged as the front-runner in the province, securing an impressive 84 seats. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) trailed behind with 28 seats.

Independent candidates, including those affiliated with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), clinched 14 seats, while the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) secured two seats each.

Given the decision by parties, excluding PPP and MQM-P, to boycott the proceedings, elected members from GDA, JI, and PTI-backed independents did not attend the oath-taking session.