ISLAMABAD, December 03, 2018: The first sitting of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab was adjourned early on Monday due to lack of quorum. The proceedings started an hour and 42 minutes late, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and seven minutes.
- The sitting started at 1542 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Speaker was absent.
- The Leader of the House and Leader of the Opposition were absent.
- Eighty-four MPAs (25%) were present at the outset while 65 (19%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and Rah-e-Haq party attended the proceedings.
- Three out of eight minority lawmakers also attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Sponsored by a PML-N lawmaker, the House took up a Call Attention Notice (CAN) regarding rape and honor killing of two girls in Rahim Yar Khan. The Minister for Law responded to the notice.
- Five out of 14 Starred questions related to the Ministry of Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering were taken up during the proceedings, while two others were disposed of due to the absence of members. The lawmakers asked 11 Supplementary questions as well. Questions relating to the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development were not taken up due to the absence of relevant minister.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised 16 Points of Order consuming 23 minutes of the proceedings.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the lack of quorum at 1707 hours that led to the ringing of bells for five minutes, and subsequently suspension of the proceedings for 34 minutes. The quorum was found incomplete again on the resumption of proceedings.
- The House was adjourned early to meet again on December 04, 2018 (Tuesday) at 1100 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.