ISLAMABAD, February 23, 2016: The Punjab Assembly adopted four private members’ resolutions on Tuesday during 18th sitting of its 19th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 51 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1118 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and nine minutes while the Deputy chaired the rest of the proceeding.
- The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
- The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 88 minutes.
- 18 MPAs (5%) were present at outset and 30 (8%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
- Four minority members were present.
Output
- The House unanimously adopted four private members’ resolutions urging the government to curb the spread of hepatitis in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, provide clean drinking water, regulate Hajj tour operators and ban dramatization of crimes on television channels. Meanwhile, a resolution was deferred and another dropped due to absence of relevant lawmakers.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The government orally replied to nine out of 20 starred questions appearing on agenda while five questions were disposed of due to absence of relevant lawmakers and six questions were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 12 supplementary questions.
- The government responded to an Adjournment Motion (AM) sponsored by PML lawmakers while three AMs were deferred.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers spoke on 14 points of order consuming 13 minutes of proceeding.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
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.
