ISLAMABAD, December 22, 2021: The Punjab Assembly held general discussion on agriculture and adopted one resolution, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) it its daily factsheet on Wednesday.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours.
• The sitting started at 03:00 pm against the scheduled time of 01:00 pm.
• 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 14 MPAs (4%) were present at the outset and 23 (6%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leaders of all political parties were absent.
• Two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Tabled by a PTI lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution demanding the government to take steps for promotion of national sport hockey.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up eight out of 35 starred questions while lawmakers asked eight supplementary questions as well. The remaining 27 questions were disposed of due to absence of relevant lawmakers.
• Minister for agriculture opened general discussion on agriculture and spoke for 25 minutes. Four other lawmakers also participated in debate for 23 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven lawmakers spoke on points of order for 14 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, December 24, 2021 at 09:00 am.

 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