ISLAMABAD, August 30, 2016: The Punjab Assembly deferred three Adjournment Motions and two Zero Hour Notices on Tuesday due to failure of the government to respond to them, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

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

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 10 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1125 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not 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 49 minutes.
• Thirty lawmakers (8%) were present at the outset and nine (2%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• Four minority members were present.

Output

• The House adopted four private members resolutions urging the government to set up Water and Sanitation Agency in Bahawalpur, facilitate disabled persons in public transport, repair river banks in PP-31 Sargodha and clear drains in the wake of rainy season.
• The House also granted extension in time to the Public Accounts Committee – I and Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Development for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 10 out of 36 Starred Questions were responded to on the floor of the House while eight were disposed of due to the absence of movers. The lawmakers also asked 21 Supplementary Questions.
• The House deferred four Adjournment Motions (AMs) submitted by lawmakers belonging to PML-N, PTI and PML regarding terrorists’ network in the province, sale of unsafe milk in Sialkot, spread of hepatitis and illegal issuance of alcohol licenses.
• The House also pended two Zero Hour Notices regarding commercialization in Wapda Town, Lahore and floods in Layyah district.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming 14 minutes of the proceedings.

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.