ISLAMABAD, July 29 , 2013: The Chairman prorogued the first sitting of the 96th session on Monday wherein the Senators spoke on Points of Order on the rescheduling of the presidential elections following the Supreme Court’s orders.
The Senators sitting on the opposition benches criticized the Supreme Court and the Election Commission while expressing their views on 11 Points of Orders. A member of the ruling party – PMLN – also shared his opinion.
The Upper House did consider any other agenda of the private members day- Monday in senate.
The Leader of the House and the Opposition attended the proceedings. Also present were the parliamentary leaders of ANP, JUIF and NP. The Chairperson presided over the sitting.
Low attendance was witnessed with 18 Senators at the begging of the sitting, 45 at the end and a maximum 62 Senators at one point of the proceedings.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Senate met for one hour and 50 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1634 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1600 hours, witnessing a delay of 34 minutes.
- The Deputy Chairman chaired the sitting.
- The Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of ANP, JUIF and NP were present whereas those of MQM, PML, BNPA and PMLF were absent.
- Only 18 senators were present at the outset while 45 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 45 senators were present at one point of the sitting.
- Two minority senators attended the proceedings.
- Two senators applied for leave.
- Two senators from Balochistan took oath.
Order and Institutionalization
- Eleven points of order consumed 95 minutes of the sitting time. The house debated the recent decision the rescheduling of the presidential elections following a Supreme Court order .
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and others.
- Information on senators’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a member organization of FAFEN
