ISLAMABAD, November 16, 2018: The Senate was prorogued sine die on Friday after passing the Election (Amendment) Bill, 2018, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings of the fifth and last sitting of 284th session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for two hours and 32 minutes.
- The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Chairman did not attend the sitting.
- In the absence of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman presided over the sitting for an hour and 27 minutes, and a member of Panel of Presiding Officers for an hour and five minutes.
- The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting two hour and 23 minutes.
- The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PPPP, JUI-F, PkMAP, ANP, BNP-M, PTI and NP attended the proceedings.
- As many as 15 senators (14% of the total membership) were present at the outset and 27 (26%) at the end of the sitting.
- As many as two out of four minority senators attended the sitting.
Output
- Moved by the Minister for Science and Technology, the House passed the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2018 as reported by the Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs. The bill provides for authorizing the election commission to constitute multiple benches for hearing election-related complaints.
- On behalf of the Chairman Standing Committee on Petroleum, a member of the Committee presented its periodical performance report for the period from May to October, 2018.
- Chairperson Standing Committee on Climate Change presented its report on a point of public importance regarding Juniper forest and water issues at District Ziarat, Balochistan.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding shortage of teachers in the colleges under the administrative control of the Federal Government and posting of interns as teachers to overcome the shortage.
- The House referred a CAN on the issue of smog and its repercussion to the relevant standing committee following ministerial response on the notice.
- The House took up five out of 14 starred questions relating to Ministries of Commerce and Climate Change. The lawmakers asked 14 supplementary questions as well. The Chair deferred seven questions asked from Aviation and Cabinet divisions on the request of the concerned minister. The remaining two questions addressed to Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications were not addressed.
- As many as six lawmakers raised points of public importance consuming 32 minutes of the proceedings. The Mister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Minister for Science and Technology responded to these points and spoke for nine and two minutes, respectively.
- The House deferred the discussion on a motion of thanks to the President for his address to Parliament till next session.
Order and Institutionalization
- As many as three lawmakers raised points of orders consuming six minutes.
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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted