ISLAMABAD, October 27, 2017: The Punjab Assembly did not transact any business on Friday due to absence of a government secretary during the Question Hour and the lack of quorum during the proceedings, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 10th sitting of the 32nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 25 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and seven minutes.
- The sitting started at 1028 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for three minutes.
- As many as 12 MPAs (3%) were present at the outset and 70 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Two minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not hold the scheduled discussion on the Annual Report of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not hold the Question Hour due to absence of the concerned government secretary in the Assembly gallery.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming five minutes of the proceedings.
- An independent lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1129 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 15 minutes. However, the quorum was found incomplete on resumption of the proceedings and the sitting was adjourned.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.