ISLAMABAD, April 6, 2015: The Punjab Assembly passed three bills and concluded pre-budget discussion during the last and 7^th sitting of its 13th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) on Monday.

The sitting started two hours and eighteen minutes behind the schedule with 49 lawmakers (13%) present at the start and 73 (20%) at the time of adjournment. Minister for Finance, Law & Parliamentary Affairs concluded the pre-budget debate during his fourteen-minute speech. The Leader of the House and the parliamentary leaders of all political parties were absent while the Opposition Leader was present for 48 minutes.

The House passed three bills, including the Punjab Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Lahore Arts Council (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Social Protection Authority Bill 2015.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for four hours and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1618 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• Forty-nine members (13%) were present at the start and 73 (20%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting while the Opposition Leader was present for 48 minutes.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
• Six minority members were present during the proceedings.

Output

• Tabled by Minister for Law & Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed three bills, including the Punjab Disabled Persons (Employment and Rehabilitation) (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Lahore Arts Council (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Social Protection Authority Bill 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirteen out of 55 starred questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant government department. In addition, the lawmakers raised three 21 supplementary questions.
• Minister for Finance concluded the pre-budget debate during his fourteen minutes speech.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 19 points of order that consumed 25 minutes of the sitting.
• An independent lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1800 hours, following which the Deputy Speaker ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. Later, the quorum was found incomplete upon counting, which led to the sitting’s adjournment till 1913 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.

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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.