ISLAMABAD, December 10, 2018: The Punjab Assembly on Monday debated health related issues and took up three Call Attention Notices (CANs), observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth sitting of the fifth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for four hours and 15 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 35 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1550 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 24 minutes while the rests of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leaders of the House and the Leader of the Opposition were absent.
• As many as 90 lawmakers (24%) were present at the outset while 25 (7%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of Rah-e-Haq party attended the sitting.
• As many as three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House held general discussion on health-related issues. As many as 18 lawmakers took part in the debate consuming an hour and 34 minutes of the proceedings. The Minister for Health took 15 minutes while concluding the debate.
• APML-N lawmaker’s adjournment motion was deferred due to non-reply from the concerned department.
• The House took up three Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding law and order. All CANs were sponsored by PML-N lawmakers and Minister for Law responded to them.
• The House did not hold general discussion on Annual Report of the Punjab Commission on the Status of Women for the year 2016.

Order and Institutionalization:

• Lawmakers raised three points of Order consuming as many minutes of the proceedings.
• A PML-N lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1755 hours. However, the House was found in order after the bells were rung for five minutes.
• The House took up 10 starred questions related to Ministries of Primary & Secondary Healthcare and Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education. The lawmakers asked 22 supplementary questions as well.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on December 11, 2018 (Tuesday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

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This 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.