ISLAMABAD, February 18, 2016: The National Assembly deferred the passage of a government bill amidst objections by Opposition lawmakers on Thursday during fifth sitting of 29th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The National Assembly met for three hours.
- The sitting started at 1035 hours against its scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 97 minutes.
- Ten Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
- 25 MNAs (7%) were present at outset and 62 (18%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-Z, QWP-S, BNP, ANP, APML and AMLP were present.
- Seven minority members were present.
Output
- The House deferred the consideration of the National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill, 2015 due to concerns raised by the Opposition lawmakers. Nine lawmakers including the Federal Minister for Water & Power spoke on the subject.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government orally responded to 12 out of 36 starred questions while the lawmakers asked 22 supplementary questions as well.
- The government replied to one Calling Attention Notice regarding Bhara Kahu Housing Scheme.
- Three lawmakers spoke for 29 minutes on the motion of thanks to the President of Pakistan for his address to the Parliament last year.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on four points of order consuming eight minutes of the proceeding.
- The lawmakers belonging to MQM staged walkout for five minute against increase in the prices of medicines.
- A lawmaker belonging to PTI pointed out quorum at 1314 hours. The Chair suspended the sitting till the time quorum was completed. However, it was found missing again on resumption of the proceeding at 1335 hours leading to the adjournment of the sitting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on website of National Assembly.
To download the factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.