ISLAMABAD, January 31, 2012: Starting two hours behind schedule, the ninth sitting of the Punjab Assembly met for only 20 minutes. It witnessed low attendance of Members as only 38 were present at the outset and 97 when it was adjourned.  

The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting, was not pointed out by any of the MPAs.

Only one out of 30 questions listed for the Question Hour was responded by the relevant ministry.

The Chief Minister was absent while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for 20 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1205 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started two hours and five minutes late.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of the PML attended the sitting while those of MMAP, PMLF and PMLZ were absent.
• Thirty-eight Members (10% of the total Membership – 369) were present at the start while 97 (26%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• Three minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirty questions were listed for the Question Hour. However, only one was put up and responded to by the relevant ministries.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Order was raised during the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting, was not pointed by any of the Legislators.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.  This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the ninth sitting of the 33nd session of the Punjab Assembly. These reports are released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN