LAHORE:
The Punjab Assembly introduced nine bills besides the amendments to the Rules of Procedure of Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, 1997, relating to the election procedure of the Punjab chief minister.
The house passed the proposed amendments. The main feature of the new rules is that there will be no show-of-hands for the chief minister’s election. Now, the lawmakers can cast their votes by way of secret balloting. Earlier, the procedure required recording of vote.
Before amendment, the rules read:“Before voting commences, the speaker shall direct that the bells (to) be rung for five minutes to enable members…to be present. Immediately after the bells stop ringing, all the entrances to the lobby shall be locked and the assembly staff posted at each entrance shall not allow any entry or exit through those entrances until the voting has concluded.
“The (provincial assembly’s) speaker shall then read out the resolution…and ask the members who wish to vote in favour of the resolution to pass in single file through the entrance where tellers shall be posted to record the votes.
“On reaching the desk of the tellers, each member shall…call out the division number allotted to him under these rules. The tellers shall then mark off his number on the division list simultaneously calling out the names of the member…After a member has recorded his vote, he shall not return to the chamber until bells are rung under Para 3.
“When the speaker finds that all the members…have recorded their votes, he shall announce that the voting has concluded. Thereupon the secretary shall cause the division list to be collected, count the recorded votes and present the result of the count to the speaker.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2011.
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