ISLAMABAD, October 19, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab continued the general discussion on annual budget for the year 2018-19, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the third (budget) session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 40 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Finance Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 38 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 80 MPAs (22%) were present at outset and 95 (26%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of Rah-e-Haq Party attended the sitting.
- As many as two out of eight minority lawmakers also attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Six lawmakers participated in the budget discussion that continued for 36 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as seven lawmakers spoke on as many Points of Order consuming 22 minutes of the proceedings.
- Majority of the lawmakers belonging to PML-N did not attend the sitting against the suspension of the assembly membership of six lawmakers of the party. However no formal boycott of the House proceedings was announced on floor of the House.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum twice at 1052 and 1207 hours. The quorum was found complete on first instance while bells were rung for five minutes on second instance.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on October 22, 2018 (Monday) at 1400 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
- 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.