ISLAMABAD, September 8, 2016: The National Assembly deferred the government bill providing for solemnization of Hindu marriages on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during fifth sitting of the 35^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for three hours and eight minutes.
• The sitting started at 1046 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for 23 minutes while a member of the Panel of Chairpersons presided over rest of the proceedings as the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 15 minutes.
• Fifty-five lawmakers (16%) were present at the outset and 23 (6%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, JUI-F, JI, QWP-S, PML, PML-Z, AMLP, APML and ANP attended the proceedings.
• Eight minority members were present.

Output

• Chairman Standing Committee on Law & Justice presented the report of the committee on the Islamabad High Court (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the Civil Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2016. The House condoned the delay in presentation of these reports.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Rules of Procedure & Privileges presented three report of the committee on the Questions of Privilege.
• The Periodical Reports of the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony were also presented before the House.
• The House did not take up the Hindu Marriage Bill, 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as ten out of 36 Starred Questions were responded to by the government on floor of the House. The lawmakers also asked 21 Supplementary Questions.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices regarding poor results of students of Intermediate classes of Government Colleges in Islamabad and non-payment of stipend to Interns under the National Internship Programme.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming an hour and 15 minutes of the proceedings.
• Entire Opposition except MQM staged walkout for 14 minutes against the partisan behavior of the Speaker.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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