ISLAMABAD, August 11, 2021: The National Assembly was adjourned on Wednesday due to lack of quorum amidst absence of the Leaders of the House and the Opposition, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 14th sitting of the 35th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for two hours and three minutes.
- The sitting started at 11:37 am against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
- The deputy speaker chaired the entire sitting in the absence of speaker.
- The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 55 (16 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 59 (17 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Six minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not consider four bills and two reports of standing committee on finance and revenue regarding the Government Savings Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Post Office National Savings Certificates (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Two calling attention notices (CANs) and a motion of thanks to president for his address to parliament were not taken up. The CANs were regarding collection of television fee from Mosques and delay in completion of Golen Gol Hydropower project and laying of Chitral-Chakdara national transmission lines.
- The House took up seven out of 31 starred questions, while lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions as well.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four lawmakers including Minister of state for parliamentary affairs spoke on points of order for 24 minutes.
- A lawmaker belonging to MMAP pointed out the quorum at 01:14 pm following which the proceedings remained suspended for 21 minutes after counting. On the resumption of the proceedings at 01:39 pm, the quorum was found incomplete and the House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, August 12, 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