ISLAMABAD, November 23, 2016: The Senate on Wednesday rejected a motion with majority vote to extend the presentation period of committee report on the Panama Papers Inquiries Bill, 2016, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Twenty-three lawmakers voted against the motion while 15 Senators voted in favour of extending the period of presenting the committee report.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fourth sitting of the 255^th session.

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for three hours and 16 minutes.
• The sitting started two minutes behind the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and six minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PkMAP, BNP-M, PTI, MQM, PML-N, PML-F, PML and ANP attended the sitting.
• Fourteen members (13% of the total membership – 104) were present at the outset while 20 (19%) at end of the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers also attended the sitting.

Output

• The Senate passed the Plant Breeders’ Rights Bill, 2016 and witnessed introduction of the Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016.

• The House witnessed the presentation of report on Legal Practitioners and Bar Councils (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and Starred Question regarding various details of official vehicles being used by officers/officials of Ministry of Information.
• The Chair referred back report of the National Command Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the Standing Committee on Defense.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices about the train accident at Landhi Railway Station and the news item regarding narcotics business going on around educational institutions in Islamabad. .
• The House passed two motions under Rule 194 (1) to extend the presentation period of as many reports of various Standing Committees while another motion was rejected with majority vote regarding extension in presentation period of report on the Panama Papers Inquiries Bill, 2016 for 30 days with effect from November 26, 2016.
• The House took all 29 Starred Questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 34 Supplementary Questions.
• The Chair rejected two Adjournment Motions (AMs) for being in contravention with rules while another AM on the agenda was dropped due to absence of the mover.

Order and Institutionalization

• Thirteen Points of Public Importance consumed 38 minutes of the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
•  The attendance of lawmakers is available on the website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted