ISLAMABAD, May 16, 2016: The Senate adopted two resolutions and witnessed introduction of three bills on Monday during the 6^th sitting of its ongoing 248^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for 26 minutes. .
• The sitting started two minutes late against schedule time of 1600 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting and the Opposition Leader was present for 18 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 18 (17%) senators were present at the start and 25 (24%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, MQM, PML-N, PPPP, ANP, NP and PML were present.
• One minority member attended the sitting.

Output

• The Senate adopted two resolutions to hand over N-50 and N-25 Highways to National Highways and Motorway police and preparing dossier about Indian interference in internal affairs of Pakistan.
• Three other resolutions on the agenda to regulate Mental Health Act in three provinces other than Balochistan; abolish test for admission in Grade One in Primary schools of Islamabad and open more air routes with Iran were dropped due to absence of their sponsoring lawmakers.
• The House witnessed introduction of the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016. These bills were referred to relevant committees for further deliberations.
• A special report of the Standing Committee on Defence about the visit and meetings of the body at Pakistan Navy installations Karachi, Ormara and Gwadar was presented.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four motions under Rule 218 appearing on Orders of the Day were dropped due to absence of movers.

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Public Importance consumed one minute of the sitting.
• The Opposition boycotted the sitting at 1620 hours against the absence of Prime Minister and did not return till adjournment of sitting at 1628 hours.

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 proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted