ISLAMABAD, June 8, 2017: The Punjab Assembly continued the general discussion on the budget 2017-18 with 26 lawmakers taking part in the discussion amidst lack of quorum on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the 30^thsession:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 32 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for half an hour due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1154 hours against the scheduled time 1100 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 31 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for three hours.
• As many as 32 MPAs (8%) were present at the outset and 79 (21%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PTI attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.

Output

• The House granted two-month extension to the Standing Committees on Privileges, Law and Services and General Administration for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twenty-six lawmakers – 17 of PML-N, seven of PTI and two of PML– took part in the general discussion on the budget 2017-18, which continued for two hours and 18 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1447 hours that led to the suspension of the sitting for half an hour. However, the sitting was adjourned at 1526 hours after the quorum was found incomplete on resumption of the proceedings.
• Two PML-N lawmakers staged walkouts over Chair’s refusal to grant them extra time for their speeches on the budget. One of the protesting lawmakers returned after three minutes while the other did not come back to attend the proceedings.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• Information on Members’ attendance 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.