ISLAMABAD, January 18, 2016: The National Assembly passed two government bills while deferred another on Monday during twelfth sitting of 28^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for three hours and 19 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1638 hours against its scheduled time of 1630 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for two hours and 43 minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairpersons presided over the rest of the proceeding.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 40 minutes.
• Seven Federal Ministers attended the sitting.
• 43 MNAs (13%) were present at outset and 28 (8%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JI, PML-Z, APML and AMLP were present.
• Seven minority members were present.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for Climate Change, the National Assembly unanimously passed the lncome Tax (Amendment] Bill, 2015 and the lncome Tax (Second Amendment] Bill, 2015.
• The House deferred the consideration of the lncome Tax (Amendment] Bill, 2016 on request of the treasury.
• The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Government Assurances presented the Periodical Report of the Committee for the period from January, 2015 to June, 2015.
• On behalf of the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Science and Technology, a female member of the Committee presented the Periodical Report of the Committee for the period from January, 2015 to June, 2015.
• On behalf of the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Petroleum and Natural Resources, a female member of the Committee presented the Periodical Report of the Committee for the period from January, 2015 to June, 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eight out of 44 starred questions appearing on agenda were orally responded on floor of the House. The members asked nine supplementary questions as well.
• The government replied to six out of nine unstarred questions appearing on agenda. The Question Hour continued for 43 minutes.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding excessive use of antibiotics affecting the natural immunity system citizens and non-adherence to Standard Operating Procedures about opening Luwari Tunnel.
• Four lawmakers spoke on a motion of thanks to the President for his address to the Parliament. The discussion on the motion consumed 52 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty lawmakers spoke on Points of Order consuming 28 minutes of the proceeding. They discussed the issues relating to foreign relations, governance and business of the House.
• A lawmaker belonging to PTI pointed out the quorum at 1809 hours but it was found complete on the counting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on website of National Assembly.

 To download the factsheet, click here for English version – click here for Urdu version

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This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceeding conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted