Punjab Assembly Adjourned Amidst Lack of Quorum and Protest

Nadeem

8 years ago

ISLAMABAD, February 23, 2018: The Punjab Assembly did not take up any scheduled business amidst lack of quorum and opposition’s protest against promotion of an under-trial civil servant, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 16^th sitting of the 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

The Punjab Assembly met for 54 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 35 minutes due to lack of quorum.
The sitting started at 0950 hours against the scheduled time 0900 hours.
The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
As many as 15 MPAs (4%) were present at outset and 58 (16%) at adjournment of the sitting.
None of the parliamentary leaders were present during the proceedings.
Only one minority lawmaker attended the sitting.

Output

The House did not take up the legislative agenda due to lack of quorum.

Representation and Responsiveness

There were 19 Starred Questions on the List of Questions; however, none was take up for answers.

Order and Institutionalization

The lawmakers raised two Points of Order consuming as many minute of the proceedings.
The opposition lawmakers staged a protest against the government for promoting a civil servant who is under investigation on the charges of corruption by the National Accountability Bureau.
A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1001 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 35 minutes. However, the quorum was found incomplete even after the resumption of the proceedings and the sitting was adjourned to meet again on Monday at 0900.

Transparency

‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.