National Assembly lacks quorum to take up agenda

ISLAMABAD, January 17, 2022: The National Assembly left entire agenda unaddressed and was adjourned due to lack of quorum on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth sitting of the 40th session:

 Members’ Participation

  • The National Assembly met for 47 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes due to lack of quorum.
  • The sitting started at 04:14 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
  • A member of panel of chairpersons presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of speaker and deputy speaker.
  • The leaders of the house (Prime Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 12 (four percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 74 (22 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • Parliamentary leader of BAP attended the sitting.
  • Two minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

  • The House did not take up legislative business and two statutory reports.

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House neither observed question hour not took up two calling attention notices.
  • A motion of thanks to the President for his address to both Houses and a motion under rule 259 were not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A lawmaker belonging to PPPP pointed out the quorum at 04:25 pm which was found incomplete upon counting and the proceedings remained suspended for 29 minutes. On the resumption of the proceedings, the counting was made again and the quorum was found incomplete.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 04:00 pm.

Transparency

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

 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