ISLAMABAD, April 26, 2017: The Punjab Assembly referred two ordinances to the relevant committees after their presentation before the House on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 28th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 42 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1128 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the proceedings for 33 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired rest of the sitting.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 17 minutes.
- Twenty-five lawmakers (7%) were present at the outset and 80 (21%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PTI, JI and PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Two minority members were present.
Output
- Minister for Law laid the Punjab Shehr-e-Khamoshan Authority Ordinance 2017 and the Punjab Boilers and Pressure Vessels (Amendment) Ordinance 2017 before the House, which were referred to the relevant standing committees.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 15 out of 33 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during the Question Hour while six questions were disposed of and five were deferred due to the absence of movers. The lawmakers also asked 24 supplementary questions.
- The House deferred two Adjournment Motions of PTI lawmakers.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming 10 minutes of the proceedings.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1257 hours, however, it was found complete after the bells were rung for five minutes.
- The sole lawmaker of JI staged a walkout for 10 minutes against non-provision of funds for Bahawalpur.
- The entire opposition protested on floor of the House for six minutes demanding resignation of the Prime Minister.
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 excepted.