ISLAMABAD, February 23, 2021: The Punjab Assembly consumed major part of the proceedings on points of order and did not observe question hour on Tuesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the first and last sitting of the 29^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 44 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 30 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1647 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 14 minutes while the remaining proceedings was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 41 MPAs (11%) were present at the outset and 17 (5%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary Leader of PPPP attended the sitting.
• As many as three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House passed the University of Faisalabad (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and deferred the Punjab Emergency Service (Amendment) Bill, 2021 on the request of Minister for Law.
• The House did not take up five resolutions appearing on agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House deferred the Question Hour due to absence of relevant Minister.
• The House did not take up the Zero Hour Notices appearing on the agenda.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for an hour and 25 minutes (52 percent of the proceedings).
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.