ISLAMABAD, April 26, 2018: The Punjab Assembly did not take up its legislative business on Thursday amidst the lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 35th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1705 hours against the scheduled time 1400 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 40 minutes.
- As many as 30 MPAs (8%) were present at outset and 35 (9%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of JI was present.
- As many as five minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House did not take up the legislative business appearing on Orders of the Day.
- The Standing Committees on Revenue and Relief presented its report to the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as seven out of 12 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while one Starred Question was disposed of due to absence of the mover and another was deferred. The lawmakers also asked 14 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- Entire opposition lawmakers staged an eight-minute protest demanding immediate resignation of the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs as he’s been disqualified to become a Member of the Parliament.
- A lawmaker belonging to JI walked out from proceedings at 1821 hours in solidarity with sugarcane growers. He did not return to the House till the adjournment of the sitting.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1822 hours that led to the ringing of bells for five minutes. However, the quorum was still incomplete after the bells and the sitting was adjourned to meet again on Friday (tomorrow) at 0900 hours.
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.