ISLAMABAD, September 18, 2017: The Punjab Assembly could not take up the legislative business set for Monday’s sitting due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the 31st session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 48 minutes of which the proceedings remained suspended for 25 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1622 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 32 minutes.
- As many as 23 MPAs (6%) were present at outset and 28 (7%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leader of PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Four minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House did not take up the reports and the bills appearing on Orders of the Day.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 18 out of 42 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while 20 questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers and four were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 26 supplementary questions.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmaker spoke on four Points of Order consuming as many minutes of the proceedings.
- An Independent lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1737 hours that led to suspension of the proceedings for 25 minutes. However, the quorum was still incomplete on resumption of the proceedings and the sitting was 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.