ISLAMABAD, September 2, 2016: The Punjab Assembly held discussion on law and order amidst low attendance of lawmakers and was prorogued without taking up two government bills on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during 10^th and last sitting of the 23^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 40 minutes.
• The sitting started at 0956 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 23 minutes.
• Five lawmakers (1%) were present at the outset and 37 (10%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
• Two minority members were present.

Output

• Moved by Provincial Law Minister, the House adopted a resolution condemning the terrorists’ attack on Christian Colony in Peshawar.
• The House did not take up the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Punjab Poultry Production Bill 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as five out of 11 Starred Questions were responded to by the government while six others were disposed of due to the absence of the movers. The lawmakers also asked 14 Supplementary Questions.
• Four lawmakers took part in general discussion on law and order consuming 61 minutes.
• The House deferred three Adjournment Motions (AMs) on various matters of public importance.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on five Points of Order consuming six minutes of the proceedings.
• The Chair directed the Secretary, Provincial Assembly of the Punjab, to write to Chief Secretary about the absence of Secretary Youth Affairs from the Assembly Gallery during Question Hour.

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.

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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 excepted.