ISLAMABAD, November 22, 2019: The Punjab Assembly continued general discussion on price control amid protests by the lawmakers from both sides of aisle, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the fifth sitting of the 16^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 48 minutes.
•  The sitting started at 1041 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 15 MPAs (4%) were present at the outset and 60 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Only the Parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the sitting.
• As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eight lawmakers – PML-N (4), PTI (3) and PPPP (one) – participated in the general discussion on price control and spoke for 35 minutes.
•  As many as two out of 24 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while the lawmakers also asked five supplementary questions. The Deputy Speaker suspended the question hour after consideration of two questions due to the absence of representatives from relevant Agriculture Department.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 15 Points of Order consuming 18 minutes of the proceedings.
• PTI lawmakers protested for eight minutes against the remarks of PPPP Parliamentary Leader during his speech on price control.
• The opposition lawmakers also protested for four minutes during the speech of Minister for Colonies when he reportedly used ‘inappropriate’ remarks against them.
• The Parliamentary Leader of PPPP walked out of the House for eight minutes complaining use of objectionable remarks against him by PTI lawmakers.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on November 25, 2019 (Monday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• 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