ISLAMABAD, December 07, 2018: The Punjab Assembly did not hold a scheduled discussion on health issues amidst lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the ongoing (fifth) session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for an hour and 42 minutes, while the sitting remained suspended for 40 minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1023 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition were absent.
• As many as 45 MPAs (12%) were present at the outset and 90 (24%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
• Only two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The Minister for Special Education made a statement on a PML-N lawmaker’s Adjournment Motion (AM) regarding facilities provided to children with special needs in schools.
• The Minister for Health moved a motion to discuss the health issues. However, the House did not proceed to the discussion due to suspension of the sitting.
• Only three out of 13 Starred questions addressed to the Ministry of Environment Protection were taken up during the proceedings, while one was disposed of due to the absence of the member. The lawmakers asked eight supplementary questions as well. The questions addressed to the Ministry of Communication & Works were not taken up due to the absence of the relevant minister.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised two Points of Order consuming four minutes of the proceedings.
• A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the lack of quorum at 1116 hours that led to the ringing of bells for five minutes, and subsequently suspension of the proceedings for 40 minutes. The quorum was incomplete again on the resumption of proceeding and the sitting was adjourned.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on December 10, 2018 (Monday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on the Assembly website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on the Assembly website.

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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.