ISLAMABAD, March 7, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab was adjourned without holding the scheduled pre-budget discussion on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 12th sitting of the seventh session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for an hour and 25 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1253 hours against the scheduled time of 1130 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Leaders of the House and Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 60 MPAs (16%) were present at the outset and 80 (22%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
- As many as four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House did not hold the Pre-budget General Discussion due to absence of the Secretary for Finance.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Revenue and Colonies responded to two out of six Starred Questions appearing on the agenda while three questions were deferred on movers’ request and one was disposed of due to absence of the mover. The lawmakers asked six supplementary questions as well.
- A PTI lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion was deferred due to absence of the relevant minister.
- A PML-N lawmaker’s Question of Privilege (QoP) was referred to the Committee on Privileges.
- The Minister for Law responded to a Call Attention Notice (CAN) appearing on the agenda regarding increase in incidents of robbery in different areas of Lahore. The CAN was sponsored by a lawmaker belonging to PML-N.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as 24 lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for 38 minutes.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on March 08, 2019 (Friday) at 0900 hours.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
- 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.