ISLAMABAD, February 25, 2021: The Punjab Assembly did not transact its regular business on Thursday as the Speaker adjourned the sitting over non-inclusion of a bill in the agenda despite his directions in the last session, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the first sitting of the 30^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for 26 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1711 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 40 MPAs (13%) were present at the outset and 73 (20%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the Parliamentary Leaders attended the sitting.
• Only two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House did not consider any of the agenda items appearing on `Orders of the Day’.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for 18 minutes which were regarding non-inclusion of the Punjab Emergency Service (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the agenda despite Speaker’s direction in the last session.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on March 1, 2021 (Monday) at 1400 hours.

Transparency

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

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.