ISLAMABAD, December 24, 2021: The Punjab Assembly deferred 10 zero hour notices and debate on agriculture, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet on Friday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the seventh sitting of the 38th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 10:53 am pm against the scheduled time of 09:00 am.
• A member of panel of chairpersons presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of speaker and the deputy speaker.
• The leaders of the house (chief minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 26 MPAs (7%) were present at the outset and 61 (16%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of all political parties were absent.
• None out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Minister for law presented the performance audit reports on Tehsil Headquarters hospital Khushab and Establishment of Government Aziz Bibi hospital Roshan Bheela District Kasur for the Audit Year 2018-19.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up ten out of 34 starred questions while lawmakers asked 19 supplementary questions as well. The remaining 23 questions were disposed of due to absence of relevant lawmakers and one was deferred on mover’s request.
• The House did not hold debate on agriculture while ten zero hour notices were deferred.
• Parliamentary Secretary for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering responded to a zero hour notice regarding Rawalpindi Ring Road scam.
• Two adjournment motions related to Higher Education and General Administration Departments were referred to the special committees.

Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, December 27, 2021 at 01:00 pm.

 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 SANGAT Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted