ISLAMABAD, October 25, 2017: The Punjab Assembly approved eight government bills amidst identification of quorum twice during the proceedings on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during eighth sitting of the 32^nd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 11 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1133 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 20 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 56 minutes.
• Fourteen MPAs (4%) were present at the outset and 70 (19%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PML-Z attended the sitting.
• Six minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs introduced the Punjab Medical Supplies Authority Bill 2017, which was later referred to the relevant committee.
• The House passed the Dera Ghazi Khan Development Authority (Repeal) Bill 2017, the Punjab Environmental Protection (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers) (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Punjab Ehtram-e-Ramazan (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Parks and Horticulture Authority (Amendment) Bill 2017, the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2017 and the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (Amendment) Bill 2017 as recommended by the relevant standing committees. The lawmakers debated the bills for an hour and 13 minutes. Nine lawmakers including the Minister for Law and Minister for Human Rights and Minorities Affairs participated in the debates.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as nine out of 34 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings while nine questions were deferred on the request of the movers and 14 were disposed of due to the absence of concerned lawmakers. The House didn’t take up the remaining two questions. The lawmakers also asked 17 supplementary questions.

• The House deferred three Adjournment Motions submitted by lawmakers belonging to PML-N, PTI and PML.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised three Points of Order consuming as many minutes of the proceedings.
• A PTI lawmaker identified the quorum twice at 1253 hours and 1411 hours. However, the quorum was completed on ringing the bells for five minutes on both occasions.

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 regretted.