ISLAMABAD, March 8: The Provincial Assembly witnessed the passage of Punjab Fair Representation of Women Bill, 2014 and adopted two resolutions during 2^nd sitting of 7^th session on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet based on observation of the proceedings through secondary sources.

Introduced by the Minister for Law, the House passed the bill after having detailed discussion on it.

Tabled by Minister for Women Development, the House unanimously adopted the resolution for the establishment of Punjab Women Parliamentary Group. To commemorate the 104^th anniversary of the International Women’s Day on March 8, a PML-N female legislator moved a resolution which was also adopted by the House unanimously.

The Speaker did not attend the sitting while the Deputy Speaker presided over the entire proceedings.

The proceedings were not allowed to be observed and information had to be gathered through secondary sources.

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1510 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours, witnessing a delay of an hour and 10 minutes.
• The Speaker was not present while the Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister was present for an hour and three minutes while the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.

Output

• Introduced by Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Fair Representation of Women Bill, 2014.
•  The House unanimously adopted the resolution for the establishment of Punjab Women Parliamentary Group. The resolution was moved by Minister for Women Development.
• To commemorate the 104^th anniversary of the International Women’s Day on March 8, a PML-N female legislator moved a resolution which was adopted by the House unanimously.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Questions hour was not included in the agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• Chief Minister spoke for 13 minutes on various issues.
• There were no incidents of protests, walkouts and boycotts.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

 

The Daily Factsheet is based on indirect observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN