ISLAMABAD, Oct 6 (APP): The following are the highlights of the Proceedings of the Parliament here on Saturday regarding the polling held for the presidential poll.
I. A large number of diplomats witnessed the Parliament proceedings on the Polling Day.
II. The parliamentarians thumped desks as the Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Muhammad Farooq announced the name of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. The PM shook hands with the Returning Officer Qazi Muhammad Farooq after polling his vote.
III. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz cast his vote at 11:30 a.m., PML President Ch. Shujaat Hussain cast vote at 11:11 a.m., Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani cast vote at 10:55 a.m. and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Sher Afgan Khan Niazi polled his vote at 12:15 a.m.
IV. Parliamentarians also thumped desks when the names of PML President Ch.
Shujaat Hussain, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Muhammad Ali Durrani, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr. Sher Afgan Khan Niazi, former Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, and Minister for Defence Rao Sikandar Iqbal were announced for polling their votes.
V. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and PML President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain remained in the House till 1.00 p.m. and made sure all voters had polled their votes.
VI. Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani and Engineer Amir Muqam remained busy exchanging views with the dissident opposition members who were present in the House despite the mass resignations by their colleagues.
VII. Four Opposition members also polled their votes which included Parliamentary Leader in the National Assembly Shahabuddin Khan, who recently announced to join the PML-Q, MMA members National Assembly Qari Gul Rehman and Maulana Khalil-ur-Rehman and MMA Senator Hafiz Rashid Ahmed.
VIII. Treasury members welcomed enthusiastically the opposition members when they
rose from their respective seats to cast votes.
IX. Minister Health Muhammad Nasir Khan took along Senator Zafar Iqbal, the son of former Minister Ch. Abdul Ghafoor, who recently had joined the PPP.
X. Justice ® Tariq Mehmood, the polling agent for Presidential candidate
Justice ® Wajihuddin Ahmad, was also present in the House. Senator Wasim Sajjad
introduced Justice ® Tariq Mehmood with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who remained with him and exchanged views for some time. Afterwards, Justice ® Tariq Mehmood left the House.
XI. Senator Kamil Ali Agha and Sardar Nasrullah Dareshak observed the duties
as polling agents for President Pervez Musharraf for Senate and National Assembly
respectively.
XII. Women Parliamentarians led by Sumaira Malik went to Prime Minister and
congratulated him on the apparent success of President Musharraf. The PM also was
photographed with the women legislators.
XIII. Prime Minister also went to former Prime Minister Mir Zafrullah Jamali and exchanged views.
XIV. The imprisoned Former Minister of State Engineer Shahid Jamil Qureshi was brought to the House following the production orders issued by the Speaker National Assembly. He also met with Prime Minister and discussed his case.
Minister for Law Zahid Hamid and Advisor to PM Rana Tariq Javed were also present.
XV. The ailing legislator Begum Rehana Aleem Mashhadi was brought to the House despite illness. Begum Hajra Tariq escorted her to the polling booth.
XVI. The veteran MNAs Sardar Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari and Malik Allah Yar Khan left the Hose soon after polling their votes due to illness.
XVII. Begum Shahnaz Sheikh raised the slogan of ‘Long Live Musharraf’ while casting her vote.
XVIII. PML-Q legislators Farooq Amjad Mir, Umar Ahmad Ghumman, Mehdi Hassan Bhatti, Rana Ajmal Khan, Ch. Wajahat Hussain, Ayla Malik, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind and Sardar Asif Nakai polled votes late as they were not present in the House when their names were announced earlier.
XIX. Newly-elected women Members National Assembly Amna Salim and Farzana Malik also cast their votes.