The fourth session of Punjab Assembly was marked by passage of six bills including the Local Government Bill 2013 amid protests and walkouts, says FAFEN Parliament Monitor – 4th Session Provincial Assembly of Punjab report. The session also witnessed the passage of opposition-backed resolution against drone attacks. Thirty-eight legislators debated the local government bill in…
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Senate’s 97th session was marked by the introduction of six private members’ bills, three of them seeking amendments in the constitution. The three bills sought amendments in articles 1, 51 and 106 and 140A of the constitution to empower the parliament to create new provinces, give workers representation in the national and provincial assemblies, and to provide for specified time in the constitution for holding local government elections.
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The election results were officially notified on May 22, meaning the candidates had until July 6 to submit petitions with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) constituted 14 tribunals (13 working) across the country to redress election related complaints of contesting candidates. The commission received 402 petitions in all, according to media reports. FAFEN has deployed 18 trained non-partisan lawyers to observe the proceedings in the tribunals set up by the ECP. By September 30, these tribunals had received and heard at least 339 petitions related to national and provincial assemblies. Many of the petitions filed with the ECP have been done so on multiple grounds and have sought more than one relief.
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The National Assembly’s fourth session was marked by the introduction of two treasury-backed bills and the formation of 34 Standing Committees while the House left 79% of the agenda on the orders of the day unaddressed. Low attendance and participation of lawmakers was observed during the session. The government introduced the Constitution (23rd Amendment) Bill seeking 20-year extension for provincial quota in the federal government services. This is the third extension by amending the article 27 of the constitution to provide “safeguards against discrimination in services”. Additionally, apart from the Service Tribunals (Amendment) Bill 2013, the Civil Servants (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 and the Electoral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 were introduced during the session.
DetailsISLAMABAD, August 23, 2013: Citizens’ interest appeared to have dwindled in an otherwise peaceful and better managed by-election, notwithstanding procedural irregularities, that took place in 15 national and 26 provincial constituencies under a more assertive Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its preliminary election observation report on Friday. Although…
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Only 41% of legislators took part in the first budget session of the 14th National Assembly as the government’s decision to implement the increase in the General Sales Tax (GST) before the passage of the budget was criticized by the opposition. On the other hand the Supreme Court also ruled the government had no legal authority to levy and charge 17 per cent GST without the parliamentary approval. The session, that spread over 13 sittings from June 12 to June 28, 2013, lasted 85 hours. On average, each sitting started 20 minutes late and met for six hours and 32 minutes.
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Amid political instability, constitutional crisis, and sectarian killings leading to imposition of the Governor’s Rule, the Balochistan Assembly met for only 23 sittings in the fifth parliamentary year. This led to the provincial legislature ignoring its core responsibilities of legislation and oversight, as it also faced a leadership crisis. Apart from passing nine bills, the provincial legislature…
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During the Senate’s 95th session 46 senators took part in the debate on the federal budget for the financial year 2013-14. The Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning and Development submitted 113 recommendations on the Finance Bill. The National Assembly incorporated 21 recommendations of the upper house in the federal budget. The…
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ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2013: Forty-six Senators took part in the debate on the federal budget during the 95th session of the Upper House, says the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its report released on Saturday. Senate’s Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics, Planning and Development presented before the House 113 recommendations, which were unanimously adopted in the last sitting of the session.
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The fifth parliamentary year in the Sindh Assembly was marked by the passage of 47 bills – 43 government and four private member bills. Most of the bills (40) were passed in the last session of the fifth parliamentary year. These included five government and two private member bills to increase salaries, allowances, and other…
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