• Sitting Adjourned for 25 Minutes Due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, February 20, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, on Wednesday, passed the Punjab Prevention of Conflict of Interest Bill 2018 and introduced two government bills before being adjourned for 25 minutes due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the seventh session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 15 minutes, while the sitting remained suspended for 25 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1245 hours against the scheduled time of 1130 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and five minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 102 MPAs (27%) were present at the outset and 91 (25%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• Six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output:

• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Prevention of Conflict of Interest Bill 2018 that was introduced during the fifth session in December 2018.
• The Minister for Law introduced the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center Bill 2019, which was referred to the relevant standing committee with directions to present report in two months.
• The Minister for Law introduced the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Secretariat Employees Bill 2019, which was referred to the relevant standing committee with directions to present report in a week’s time.
• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House took up the Punjab Skills Development Authority Bill, 2018. Three lawmakers debated on the bill for 27 minutes. However, it was not passed due to the pointation of the lack of quorum.
• The House did not take up the Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2018 as well as the Board of Technical Education (Amendment) Bill 2018.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Food responded to six Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. The lawmakers asked eight supplementary questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 15 Points of Order consuming 20 minutes of the proceedings.
• A PML-N lawmaker pointed out lack of quorum at 1422 hours that led to the ringing of bells for five minutes and subsequently to the suspension of the proceedings for 25 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 21, 2019 (Thursday) at 1130 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• 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.