By IRNA
Islamabad : The National Assembly on Wednesday elected the country’s parliamentary Deputy Speaker.
He is a member from NWFP, was nominated for the office of the Deputy Speaker by the Pakistan Peoples Party of slain leader Benazir Bhutto, PML-N Party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and their allies.
He secured 246 votes out of 318 polled in the 342-member lower house of the parliament, according to the announcement by the incumbent Speaker Dr. Fahmida Mirza. 4 votes were declared invalid.
His rival Khush Bakht Shujaat of the opposition parties secured only 68 votes.
“Mr Fazal Karam Kundi is declared elected Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly,” speaker National Assembly Dr. Fahmida Mirza announced amid desk thumping by the members.
She said a total of 318 were polled and 314 were valid and invalid votes were 4.
Fazal Karim Kundi belongs to a political family of Dera Ismail Khan NWFP and he did Barrister in Law from London.
The opposition MQM party and allied parties had fielded Khush Bakht Shujaat from Sindh province to challenge Fazal Karim Kundi.