Punjab Assembly Adjourned due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, August 25, 2016: The Punjab Assembly could not transact any business after Question Hour due to lack of quorum on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of 23^rd session:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 15 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1115 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 18 minutes.
• Six lawmakers (one percent) were present at outset and 60 (16%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• None of the minority members was present.

Output

• The House did not take up the reports appearing on the agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 11 out of 37 Starred Questions were responded to on floor of the House while five were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 21 Supplementary Questions.

Order and Institutionalization

• An Independent lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1226 hours that led to the adjournment of sitting as it was not completed even after ringing the bells for four minutes.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance (except for parliamentary functionaries) 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 excepted.

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