ISLAMABAD, January 31, 2020: The National Assembly transacted most of its business on Friday and referred five government bills to the relevant committees after their introduction, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

 Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 19th session:

Members’ Participation

• The National Assembly met for two hours and one minute.
• The sitting started at 1055 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 34 minutes while the Deputy Speaker presided over the remaining proceedings.
• The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 36 (11%) members were present at the outset and 81 (24%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BAP, PML-N and JWP attended the sitting.
• Six out of 10 minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs introduced the Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Post Office Cash Certificate (Amendment) Bill, 2020; the Post Office National Savings Certificate (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Government Savings Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2020. All these bills were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration.
• Parliamentary Secretary for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development introduced the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee.

.Representation and Responsiveness

• The House tool up 11 out 29 starred questions while lawmakers asked 23 supplementary questions as well.
• Minister for National Food Security and Research responded to a Calling Attention Notice (CAN) regarding invasion of swarms of the locusts on standing crops and green trees in Sindh and South Punjab.
• Minister for Aviation Division responded to another CAN about awarding a contract of Rs. 700 million by Pakistan International Airlines for the up-gradation of In-Flight Entertainment (IFE) in eight Boeing 777 aircraft.
• The House did not take up a motion of thanks expressing gratitude to the President for his address to Parliament on September 12, 2019.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Seven lawmakers including Ministers for Power Division and National Food Security and Research spoke on points of order for 20 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 3, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 hours.

Transparency

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

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