ISLAMABAD, October 26, 2017: The Punjab Assembly was adjourned on Thursday without addressing its scheduled business due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of the 32nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 49 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 21 minutes
- The sitting started at 1110 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and two minutes.
- As many as eight MPAs (2%) were present at the outset and 2 (1%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
- Two minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not hold the scheduled discussion on the Annual Report of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as nine out of 24 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while three questions were deferred and nine were disposed of. The lawmakers also asked 21 supplementary questions.
- The House did not take up any Call Attention Notice (CAN).
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on 11 Points of Order consuming 18 minutes of the proceedings.
- An independent lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1232 hours that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 21 minutes. However, the quorum was found incomplete on resumption of the proceedings and the sitting was adjourned.
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.