Only 10 Members Present at End of Sitting

ISLAMABAD, January 24, 2012:  The Punjab Assembly witnessed low attendance on Tuesday with only 22 Members present at the outset and 10 when the sitting was adjourned.

A maximum of 87 Members (14%) out of 369 were present at one point of the sitting. The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Members.

In the sitting that met for two hours and 30 minutes only nine out of 33 questions were taken up.

Twenty-one Points of Order consumed 30 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not contribute to any Assembly output.

The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were absent.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hour and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1155 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started an hour and 55 minutes late.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 45 minutes while the remaining time was presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition were not present.
• The parliamentary leaders of the PML and MMAP attended the sitting while those of PMLF and PMLZ were absent.
• Only 22 Members (6% of the total Membership) were present at the start while 10 (3%) were there when the sitting was adjourned. A maximum of 87 Members (24%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• Two minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirty-three questions were listed for the Question Hour. However, nine were responded to by the relevant ministries.
• A total of 20 supplementary questions were asked.
• Five Resolutions were adopted by the House.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-one Points of Order were raised which consumed 30 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protest, boycotts or walkouts.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the Legislators.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate. This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the fourth sitting of the 33nd session of the Punjab Assembly. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN