ISLAMABAD, September 3, 2019: The 293^rd session of Senate was prorogued sine die on Tuesday after lack of quorum during the last sitting, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the fourth and last sitting of 293^rd session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1530 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leaders of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 33 minutes.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 18 lawmakers (17%) were present at the outset and 15 (14%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, JI, PML-N, BNP-M and PTI attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs presented the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Ordinance, 2019; the Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Ordinance, 2019; the Pakistan Penal Code Ordinance, 2019 and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019.
• The House witnessed presentation of ten reports by six Standing Committees on matters referred to them.
• The House considered and adopted a report of Standing Committee on Communications on a point of public importance regarding payment to the land owners, whose land was acquired for the construction of road from Kaghan to Babu Sar Top.

Representation and Responsiveness

• State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) about lack of basic amenities at rest area of Swabi Interchange on M-1 Motorway.
• Another CAN about the imposition of GST on flour mills was not taken up by the House due to early adjournment of sitting.
• The House took up six out of 11 starred questions related to Ministries of Water Resources, Religious Affairs and Minister Incharge of the Prime Minister’s Office.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for 41 minutes regarding legislation through promulgation of Presidential Ordinances.

• The Opposition walked out of the proceedings at 1703 hours against legislation through promulgation of Presidential Ordinances and not including its sponsored resolutions on the agenda to disapprove four Ordinances.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1706 hours that led to the prorogation of the session as the attendance of lawmakers was less than the required strength (i.e. one-fourth of total membership) even after ringing the House bells for five minutes.

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