ISLAMABAD, March 20, 2017: The Punjab Assembly’s session was prorogued sine die on Monday amid lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 11th and last sitting of 27th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 52 minutes, while the proceedings remained suspended for 44 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1640 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker chaired 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 27 minutes.
- Thirty-one MPAs (8%) were present at the outset and 70 (19%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the sitting.
- Seven minority members were present.
Output
- The House granted two-month extension to Standing Committees on Colonies for presentation of its report.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as four out of 10 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while four questions were disposed of and two were deferred due to the absence of movers. The lawmakers asked 16 Supplementary Questions as well.
- The House deferred Adjournment and Privilege Motions of PML-N and PTI lawmakers.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming 11 minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1739 hours and the proceedings were suspended for 44 minutes. Later on, when the sitting resumed, the quorum was found incomplete, and the Chair prorogued the session sine die.
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.