ISLAMABAD, October 20, 2016: The Punjab Assembly could not proceed beyond 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 fifth sitting of 24^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 14 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1134 hours against the scheduled time 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 was present for 23 minutes.
• Twenty-four MPAs (6%) were present at outset and 86 (23%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI was present.
• Five minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House could not take up two bills appearing on Orders of the Day due to early adjournment of the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as nine out of 11 Starred Questions were responded to during the Question Hour while 23 supplementary questions were also asked. The remaining two Starred Questions were deferred.
• The House took up a Calling Attention Notice but it could not be answered fully due to identification of quorum.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on two Points of Order consuming three minutes of proceedings.
• Opposition parties protested on floor of the House for six minutes on the issue of Panama Leaks.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1242 hours that lead to the adjournment of the proceedings.

Transparency

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

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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.