ISLAMABAD, November 26, 2015: The National Assembly took up only two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) besides Question Hour on Thursday during fifth sitting of ongoing 26th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceeding
- The National Assembly met for two hours and 52 minutes
- The sitting started at 1043 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours
- The Deputy Speaker chaired the sitting for 99 minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairperson presided over the rest of the proceeding
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 23 minutes
- 47 MNAs (14%) were present at outset and 46 (13%) at adjournment of the sitting
- The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, APML, ANP, PML, AMLP and JUI-F were present
- Eight minority members were present
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up seven of 32 starred questions appearing on the agenda. The members asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
- The House took up two CANs. The Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination responded to the CAN submitted by two lawmakers of JI regarding non-availability of Levies Force in districts of Buner and Shangla.
- The State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs responded to the CAN submitted by four PTI MNAs regarding delay in construction of new Islamabad Airport and escalating its cost from 35 to 85 billion rupees.
- Moved by State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House approved a motion to carry forward the unaddressed agenda of 25th and 26th sessions to the next session.
Order and Institutionalization
- Members spoke on 12 points of order consuming 67 minutes of the proceeding.
- A female lawmaker belonging to PTI pointed out quorum at 1332 hours following which the Chair ordered to ring the bells for two minutes. However, it was found incomplete upon counting and the sitting was adjourned to meet again on Friday.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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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