PTI's Wasiq Elected As PA Deputy Speaker Amid Opposition Boycott.

LAHORE -- Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Wasiq Abbasi Saturday got elected as the new deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly (PA) unopposed after the opposition parties boycotted the election.

The office of the deputy speaker fell vacant after Abbasi's predecessor, Dost Muhammad Mazari, was removed from the post through a no-confidence movement late Friday. Qayyum was a joint candidate of his PTI party and the PML-Q.

The PTI leader emerged victorious after his rival and PPP MPA Ali Haider Gilani refused to submit his nomination papers. The deadline to hand in the documents was 5:00pm. Talking to reporters in his office, assembly secretary Inayatullah Lak said that they waited for the opposition's candidate till 5:15pm but he did not show up. Gilani also said that the Opposition boycotted the elections as they are not 'clean and transparent'. 'We had strong...