ISLAMABAD, January 30, 2018: The Punjab Assembly transacted the entire business set out on Orders of the Day on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 34th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and one minute.
- The sitting started at 1112 hours against the scheduled time 1000 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 an hour and 18 minutes.
- As many as eight MPAs (2%) were present at outset and 35 (9%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PTI and JI was present.
- As many as four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- A lawmaker belonging to JI introduced the Punjab Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran Bill 2017. The bill was referred to the relevant standing committee.
- The House disposed of one private member’s resolution due to absence of the concerned lawmaker and four private members’ resolutions on opposition from the government.
- The House granted two-month extension to the Standing Committee on Education and Public Accounts Committee-II for presentation of their reports.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as 11 out of 24 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while seven Starred Questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers. The lawmakers also asked 22 supplementary questions.
- The House disposed of an Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding sugar-cane issue while three AMs were kept pending.
- The House deferred a Zero Hour Notice moved by a PPPP lawmaker.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised 18 Points of Order consuming 17 minutes of the proceedings.
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.