ISLAMABAD, February 14, 2012: The National Assembly passed the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill, 2012 during the 10^th sitting of the ongoing session. Starting an hour and 51 minutes behind schedule, the sitting met for four hours and four minutes.

The sitting witnessed relatively better attendance of Members as 210 were present at the start while 218 were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The Prime Minister attended the proceedings for 124 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 123 minutes.

The Parliamentary Leaders of the PMLN, PML, PMLF, NPP, PPPP, MQM, PPPS and BNPA were present while those of the ANP and MMAP were absent.

Members’ participation in House proceedings

• The National Assembly met for four hours and four minutes.
• The sitting started at 1851 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1700 hours. The proceedings started late by an hour and 51 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Prime Minister attended the sitting for 124 minutes while the Leader of the Opposition was present for 123 minutes.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PMLN, PML, PMLF, NPP, PPPP, MQM, PPPS and BNPA were present while those of the ANP and MMAP were absent.
• The Chief Whips of PPPP, MQM, PMLN, PPPS and BNPA were present.
• A total of 210 Legislators were present at the start and 218 at the end of the sitting.
• Seven Members applied for leave to be absent from the sitting.
• All minority Members were present during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House did not take up the two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Output

• The House unanimously passed the the Constitution (Twentieth Amendment) Bill, 2012.

Order and institutionalization

• Two Points of Order consumed 20 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), a Member organization of FAFEN.