LAHORE: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), while taking U-turn, has decided not to support Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) candidate Shehbaz Sharif in prime minister (PM) polls.
During his interview to private news channel, PPP leader Chaudhry Manzoor said that the decision not to back PML-N was taken three days ago.
The party will also stay away from the election of Punjab Assemblyspeaker and deputy speaker as it will neither vote for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate nor for PML-N's.
It is to be mentioned here that the newly-elected members of National Assembly (MNAs) will elect new premier on Friday.
The winning party PTI has fielded its chief Imran Khan for this slot whereas joint opposition provided name of PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif.
The candidates can submit the nomination papers by 02:00PM on Friday, while scrutiny of the forms would be completed by 03:00PM on Thursday. The nomination papers could be obtained from the National Assembly Secretariat.
Earlier, PTI Asad Qaiser had sworn in as the 21st speaker for the National Assembly amid opposition's protest.
Meanwhile, PTI's Qasim Khan Suri had taken oath as the 21st deputy speaker for the assembly.
Qasim Khan Suri secured 183 votes whereas joint candidate of opposition party Maulana Asad Mehmood only obtained 144 votes. A total of 330 votes were cast among which one vote was rejected.