Punjab Assembly Adjourned Amidst Opposition’s Protest

ISLAMABAD, February 26, 2018: The Punjab Assembly was adjourned on Monday without taking up its scheduled business amidst opposition’s protest against promotion of a civil servant who is under investigation for corruption charges, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 17th sitting of the 34th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Punjab Assembly met for 27 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1449 hours against the scheduled time 1400 hours.
  • The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
  • The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
  • As many as 28 MPAs (8%) were present at outset and 65 (18%) at adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leader of PTI was present during the proceedings.
  • Only one minority lawmaker attended the sitting.

Output

  • The House did not take up the scheduled legislative business.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Only one out of 18 Starred Questions was answered during the proceedings while 11 Starred Questions were disposed of and six were deferred due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers raised two Points of Order consuming four minutes of the proceedings.
  • The opposition lawmakers staged a protest against the promotion of a civil servant who is under investigation for corruption charges and kidnapping of a person who raised voice against corruption in Multan Metro Bus Project.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again at 1000 hours on Tuesday.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

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