ISLAMABAD, February 27, 2018: The Opposition in Punjab Assembly on Tuesday protested against the absence of Chief Minister as he was supposed to respond to the charges of corruption in Multan Metro project, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 18^th sitting of the 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 13 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 35 MPAs (9%) were present at outset and 63 (17%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI was present during the proceedings.
• Four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House did not consider four resolutions appearing on Orders of the Day.
• A report of Standing Committee on Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering was presented in the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four out of 12 Starred Questions were answered during the proceedings while six Starred Questions were disposed of and two were deferred due to absence of the concerned lawmakers. In addition, lawmakers asked 10 supplementary questions.
• Three adjournment motions on the agenda were deferred.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 17 Points of Order consuming 21 minutes of the proceedings.
• The Opposition in Punjab Assembly protested against the absence of Chief Minister as he was supposed to respond to the charges of corruption in Multan Metro project and disappearance of CEO of Capital Engineering Company.
• JI lawmaker staged a token walkout against alleged discrimination of Irrigation Department with agriculturalists of South Punjab.
• A PPPP lawmaker walked out of the House at 1136 hours for not resolving the grievances of sugarcane growers. He did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting at 1153 hours.
• The Chair adjourned the House to meet again at 1000 hours on Wednesday amidst opposition’s protest.

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.