ISLAMABAD, April 30, 2018: The Punjab Assembly could not proceed to take up its regular agenda on Monday due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the 35th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 35 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1606 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 10 minutes.
- As many as 12 MPAs (3%) were present at outset and 25 (7%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PML-Z was present.
- As many as five minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The annual reports of Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab for the year 2016 and Punjab Pension Fund for the year 2017 could not be presented due to early adjournment of sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 10 out of 20 tarred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while five Starred Question were disposed of due to absence of the mover and two were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 27 supplementary questions.
- The House did not take up Call Attention Notices.
Order and Institutionalization
- Entire Opposition staged one minute protest against a statement of PML-N Quaid.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1735 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 Wednesday (May 2, 2018) at 1400 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.