KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party candidate Syed Owais Qadir Shah took oath as 12th Speaker of Sindh Assembly while Anthony Naveed as deputy speaker following a majority vote by lawmakers.

Qadir Shah clinched victory with 111 votes, while his contender, Sofia Saeed of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), managed only 36 votes.

Upon his election, Qadir Shah took the oath from the outgoing speaker, Agha Siraj Durrani.

Simultaneously, Naveed garnered 111 votes against Rashid Khan of MQM-P, who received only 36 votes. Naveed then took the oath as deputy speaker, administered by Qadir Shah.

The session commenced with a slight delay, during which some provincial assembly members were sworn in.

However, members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) abstained from voting, boycotting the election of the new speaker and deputy.

Prior to the speaker voting, outgoing speaker Durrani briefed the members on the polling procedures.

Later, addressing the session as Speaker, Owais Shah said it was his honour to be elected as the speaker of the Assembly that has a grand history.

He expressed his gratitude to the party leaders for reposing trust in him. He also expressed gratitude to the people of Sindh and the people of his constituency for electing and trusting him to represent them in the Assembly.