Chandigarh: Kultar Singh Sandhwan was today unanimously elected as speaker of the 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann proposed the name of Sandhwan as speaker which was seconded by Cabinet Minister Harpal Cheema. Subsequently Sandhwan was elected unopposed for the post of the custodian of the house.
Congratulating the newly elected speaker, the Chief Minister during his maiden speech on floor of house assured that all our efforts would be made to ensure the live streaming of the proceedings of the house. He said that audio and video recordings of the members would be provided to them so that the proceedings of the house are shown to the general public. The Chief Minister also said that in future the audio and video recordings of the house would also be provided to the media persons.
He said that government would give detailed answers to all the questions of the members in the house till their satisfaction.
He bemoaned that Unfortunately earlier our predecessors used to victimise their political opponents by using the privilege motion when anyone was recording the proceedings. However, he said that it was blatant violation of the right to freedom of members so AAP government has in principle decided that it won’t ever happen in future and all the proceedings of the house would be open for full public view.