ISLAMABAD, May 20, 2015: The Punjab Assembly witnessed a walkout and suspension of proceedings due to the absence of provincial ministers on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 32 minutes behind the schedule with 13 (4%) members present at the start and 72 (19%) at the time of adjournment. The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting, while the Opposition Leader was present for 32% of proceedings’ time.

The House did not take up the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 and the University of Okara Bill 2015 due to the Law Minister’s absence. The same legislations were left unaddressed due to missing quorum earlier on Monday.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hour and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1032 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The sitting was suspended for 17 minutes to ensure ministers’ presence.
• 13 members (4%) were present at the start of the sitting.
• A maximum of 72 lawmakers (19%) were present at the time of adjournment.
• The sitting was entirely chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister was not present.
• The Opposition Leader was present for 40 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Two out of eight minority members were present.
• No member applied for leave.

Output

• The House did not take up the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan (Amendment) Ordinance 2015 and the University of Okara Bill 2015 due to the Law Minister’s absence.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up 13 out of 27 questions appearing on the agenda as the lawmakers raised another 35 supplementary questions on the floor of the House.
• The House also took up three adjournment motions on land occupation in Sargodha, corruption in Punjab Arts Council and review of health policy to curb kidney and liver diseases in the province.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised three points of order that consumed two minutes of the sitting.
• The sitting witnessed a five-minute protest by the entire opposition against the absence of provincial ministers.

Transparency

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

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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.