ISLAMABAD, December 5, 2016: The Punjab Assembly could not take up most of its agenda due to lack of quorum during last sitting of the 25th session on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during eighth and last sitting:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and eight minutes.
- The proceedings remained suspended for 23 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1508 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 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 sitting for four minutes.
- Three lawmakers (1%) were present at outset and 73 (19%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PML-Z attended the proceedings.
- One minority member was present.
Output
- The House did not take up reports appearing on Orders of the Day.
- The House granted two months’ extension to Standing Committees on Communication & Works, Excise & Taxation, Health and Transport for presentation of their reports.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Only two out of 12 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while eight others were dropped and two were deferred. The lawmakers also asked four supplementary questions.
- The House deferred two Calling Attention Notices.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming eight minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1548 hours that led to the suspension of the sitting for 23 minutes. However the quorum was not found complete at resumption of the proceedings and the sitting was prorogued at 1616 hours.
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.