ISLAMABAD, March 2: The sixth sitting of the Punjab Assembly’s 35th session lasted only for eight minutes as no business was conducted with two MPAs present in the House.
Starting 25 minutes behind schedule, the sitting did not take up any of the 35 questions listed for the Question Hour. One Point of Order was raised during the sitting.
The elections for the Senate will be held today at the Punjab Assembly.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Punjab Assembly met for 8 minutes.
- The sitting started at 0925 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 0900 hours. The House proceedings started 25 minutes late.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting.
- Neither the Chief Minister nor the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of all parties were absent.
- Two Members (0.5% of the Membership of 369) were present at the start and the same two were there when the sitting was adjourned.
- No minority Members were present.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Out of 35 questions listed for the Question Hour, none were put up.
Output
- No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
Order and Institutionalization
- One Point of Order was raised during the sitting which consumed 30 seconds.
- There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
- Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
- The Quorum, visibly lacking, was not pointed out by any of the MPAs.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN