ISLAMABAD, January 29, 2021: The Balochistan Assembly was adjourned on Friday due to lack of quorum leaving private members’ resolutions unaddressed, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the second sitting of 32^nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and seven minutes.
• The sitting started at 1630 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as eight MPAs (12%) were present at the outset and 11 (17%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MMAP and HDP attended the proceedings.
• Two out of three minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House did not consider two private members’ resolutions appearing on the agenda.
• Three reports of Standing Committees on Irrigation, Information and Local Bodies were presented in the House.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up all ten starred questions while no supplementary question was raised on them.
• The House took up two Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding release of Rs.10.3 million for a sports tournament and termination of 361 employees from Communications and Works Department.
• Another two CANs on the agenda were not taken up due to absence of relevant movers.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1737 hours and the Chair immediately announced to adjourn the House till February 1, 2021 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Attendance of the lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted