(Daily Point) — Malik Ahmed Khan from the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has clinched the speaker’s seat in the Punjab Assembly following Saturday’s secret balloting session.

Out of the 327 MPAs who participated, Khan secured 225 votes, defeating his opponent Ahmed Khan from the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), who garnered 96 votes.

The election for the deputy speaker saw PML-N’s Zaheer Iqbal and SIC’s Moin Riaz competing for the position. Prior to the election, four additional MPAs were sworn in, bringing the total count in the house to 317 members.

The oath-taking ceremony took place a day earlier, with 313 MPAs, including 215 from PML-N and allied parties, and 98 PTI-backed independents, joining under the SIC banner. Notably, this session marked the parliamentary debut of chief minister-in-waiting Maryam Nawaz.

However, the inaugural session of the new assembly faced a delay of over two hours as the speaker arrived late for the proceedings.