ISLAMABAD, January 29, 2018: The Punjab Assembly’s proceedings started three hours and 51 minutes behind the scheduled time on Monday while the House left its legislative business unaddressed due to 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 34th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 52 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1751 hours against the scheduled time 1400 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 32 minutes.
- As many as 23 MPAs (7%) were present at outset and 30 (8%) 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 Punjab Hepatitis Ordinance 2017, the Punjab Tianjin University of Technology Lahore Ordinance 2017, the Punjab Charities Ordinance 2018, the Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Bahawalpur Bill 2018, the Bahawalpur Development Authority (Repeal) Bill 2018, the Code of Civil Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018 and the Limitation (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018.
- The Standing Committees on Education and Zakat & Ushr and the Committee on Privileges presented their reports. The House granted two-month extension to the Committee on Privileges for presentation of its reports.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as ten out of 19 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 19 supplementary questions.
- The Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs responded to two Calling Attention Notices moved by PPPP and PTI lawmakers.
Order and Institutionalization
- The opposition lawmakers staged a three-minute protest against the words used by the Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs regarding the opposition parties’ behavior about Kasur incident.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1937 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 Tuesday (tomorrow) at 1000 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.