ISLAMABAD, November 25, 2016: The Punjab Assembly could not proceed to take up its agenda again on Friday due to lack of quorum like the previous sitting, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of 25th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 36 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1024 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 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 21 minutes.
- Eight lawmakers (2%) were present at outset and 88 (23%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
- Five minority members were present.
Output
- The House did not take up an ordinance and two bills appearing on Orders of the Day.
- The Standing Committee on Housing and Community Development presented its report on Bill No. 37/2016.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as eight out of 13 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while remaining questions were dropped due to absence of the movers. The lawmakers also asked 16 Supplementary Questions.
- The House referred a PTI lawmaker’s Privilege Motion to the relevant committee.
- An Adjournment Motion regarding substandard food in Gujranwala was deferred.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on seven Points of Order consuming as many minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1152 hours that led to headcount and bells. However, the quorum was not found complete upon counting and the sitting had to be adjourned.
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.