On Thursday, the inaugural session of the 16th National Assembly took place, seeing new members take their oaths. The session was overseen by Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the outgoing Speaker of the National Assembly, who also administered the oath to the members.
Before the oath-taking began, elected Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) were seen arriving at Parliament House. Notably, former prime ministers Nawaz and Shehbaz Sharif also attended.
As the new members signed in, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), which recently had PTI independents join them, began chanting slogans, adding a layer of commotion to the proceedings.
This session comes after some back and forth regarding its scheduling. President Arif Alvi initially avoided signing a summary to summon the session, reportedly due to the non-allocation of reserved seats for the SIC. The Constitution requires that the President call the inaugural session within 21 days following general elections, which were held on February 8, making February 29 the last day to meet this obligation.
With the President hesitant, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf stepped in to summon the session on the final day permitted. In a surprising turn of events, late last night, the President also called for a session to be held today.
