ISLAMABAD, March 12, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab was adjourned without addressing its agenda except question hour due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of the 20th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 59 minutes, however, the proceeding remained suspended for 44 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1642 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- A member of Panel of Chairpersons presided over the entire sitting in absence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 32 (7%) MPAs were present at the outset and 53 (14%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- A parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
- As many as five out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House did not take up regular agenda including two Call Attention Notices and a general discussion on Orange Line Train Project.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House took up nine out of 37 starred questions while six questions were disposed of due to absence of their movers. In addition, the lawmakers asked 18 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as three lawmakers including the Chair spoke on Points of Order for five minutes.
- The PML-N lawmakers protested for nine minutes against the Minister for Primary & Secondary Health for not providing satisfactory answers to their starred questions. Later, they staged a walkout on the same issue at 1741 hours and did not return till adjournment of the sitting.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1741 hours which led to suspension of the proceedings for 44 minutes and subsequently adjournment of the sitting at 1841 hours.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on March 13, 2020 (Friday) at 0900 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on the Assembly’s website.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted