ISLAMABAD, February 8, 2022: The Senate left entire agenda unaddressed on Tuesday and consumed one-third of the proceedings’ time on points of order, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 16th sitting of 317th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Senate met for two hours and 31 minutes.
- The sitting started at the scheduled time of 10:30 am.
- The deputy chairman presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of the chairman.
- The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.
- The opposition leader was not present.
- As many as 18 lawmakers (18%) were present at the outset and six (6%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PTI, PkMAP, JI, BAP, NP, ANP and PML attended the sitting.
- Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House neither took up question hour nor discussed a motion of thanks to the President for his address to both houses of Parliament.
- Four lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 48 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Four lawmakers including the leader of the house and the Minister for communications spoke on points of order for 51 minutes.
- Lawmakers belonging to opposition walked out from the House at 10:39 am soon after the commencement of question hour against absence of relevant ministers to reply questions. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 10:41 am following which the chair ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes twice. The quorum was found incomplete upon counting and the proceedings remained suspended for 28 minutes.
- A PTI lawmaker walked out from the House at 12:34 pm against the chair’s attitude who disallowed him to speak on a point of public importance. He did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, February 11, 2022 at 10:30 am.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted