ISLAMABAD, September 22, 2021: The National Assembly left almost entire agenda unaddressed on Wednesday and was adjourned due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 36th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for an hour and five minutes.
- The sitting started at 04:38 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
- The speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The deputy speaker was not present.
- The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 59 (17 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 63 (18 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Seven minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not consider five government bills including the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Higher Education Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Higher Education Commission (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021; the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Evacuee Trust Properties (Management and Disposal) (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
- Two Ordinances including the Federal Government Properties Management Authority Ordinance, 2021 and the Elections (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 were not laid.
- The House did not take up three reports of standing committees and four statutory reports.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not take up two calling attention notices and a motion of thanks to President for his address to parliament on September 13, 2021.
- The House took up six out of 40 starred questions. In addition, lawmakers asked 13 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker belonging to PML-N pointed out the quorum at 05:38 pm which was found incomplete upon counting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, September 24, 2021 at 11:00 am.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted