Points of Public Importance Consume Major Part of Senate Proceedings

• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, August 26, 2020: The Senate took up its entire agenda on Wednesday and consumed major part of the proceedings in points of public importance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the eighth sitting of 302^nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 12 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Opposition Leader was present for an hour and two minutes.
• As many as 19 lawmakers (18%) were present at the outset and 26 (25%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PkMAP, MQM and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions, an Independent lawmaker presented report of the Committee on its visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from March 11 to March 12, 2020.
• The House passed seven motions under Rule 194 (1) granting 30-day extension to Standing Committees on Aviation and Industries and Production for presentation of their two and five reports respectively on matters referred to them.
• The Chairman gave a ruling regarding his power under Rule 120 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Senate, 2012 which he exercised in last sitting for immediate consideration of two legislative proposals.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up three out of nine starred questions while lawmakers also asked four supplementary questions.
• Thirteen lawmakers and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs spoke on points of public importance for an hour and 31 minutes (69 percent of the proceedings’ time).

Order and Institutionalization

• The Session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted