ISLAMABAD, April 5, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed two private members’ resolutions on Tuesday during fifth sitting of its 20th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 51 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1046 hours against the scheduled time 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 sitting for 33 minutes.
- 8 MPAs (2%) were present at outset and 47 (13%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and JI attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- The House adopted two private members resolutions urging the government to provide vocational training to women and take strict action against those producing and selling adulterated milk. Moreover, five resolutions appearing on the agenda were deferred.
- The Standing Committee on Transport presented its report on the Bill No. 1/2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government orally replied to eight out of 36 starred questions appearing on the agenda while nine questions were disposed of and three were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 24 supplementary questions.
- The government responded to an adjournment motion regarding out-of-school children while two motions were deferred.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on two points of order consuming as many minutes of the proceeding.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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.