ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2015: The Punjab Assembly approved 42 demands for grants on Tuesday and rejected cut motions related to the police and agriculture departments, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The House continued to witness low attendance of lawmakers, with only 10 members (3% of the membership) present at the start of the sitting and 184 (49%) at the time of adjournment.

Three lawmakers discussed a cut motion related to the police department for 21 minutes, while another nine members discussed a cut motion related to the agriculture department for 81 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1019 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• 10 members (3%) were present at the start of the sitting.
• A maximum of 184 (49%) members were present at the time of adjournment.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for five minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was present for 156 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for 146 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP were present.
• Three minority members attended the proceedings.
• No member applied for the leave.

Output

• The House approved 42 demands for grants for various government departments.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three lawmakers – two from PTI and one from PPPP – participated in the debate on a cut motion related to the police department for 21 minutes.
• The discussion was concluded by the Home Minister in his 34-minute speech.
• Another nine lawmakers – four from PTI, three belonging to PPPP and one each from JI and PML – discussed a cut motion related to the agriculture department for 81 minutes.
• The discussion was concluded by the Agriculture Minister in his five-minute speech.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised four points of order that consumed two minutes of the sitting.
• Opposition lawmakers staged a nine-minute walkout to express concern over cut motions not being taken up according to the order.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was also available to the observers and the public.

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This 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 excepted.