ISLAMABAD, March 06, 2017: The Punjab Assembly could not hold Pre-Budget Discussion due to lack of quorum on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of 27th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 49 minutes.
- The proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1636 hours against the scheduled time of 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 sitting for 29 minutes.
- Thirty-nine lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 67 (18%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI and PML-Z attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- A lawmaker presented the report of the Standing Committee of Education on Bill No. 3/2017.
Representation and Responsiveness
- As many as seven out of nine Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while two other questions were disposed of due to the absence of movers. The lawmakers also asked 20 supplementary questions.
- The House deferred two Calling Attention Notices till Thursday.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming one minute of the proceedings.
- An Independent lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1742 hours that led to the suspension of sitting for 29 minutes. The quorum was found incomplete on resumption of 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.