ISLAMABAD, October 19, 2016: The Punjab Assembly granted extension to two ordinances and passed six government bills including an amendment to local government law on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during fourth sitting of 24^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 43 minutes.
• The proceedings remained suspended for 28 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at 1608 hours against the scheduled time 1500 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 was present for 26 minutes.
• Sixteen MPAs (4%) were present at outset and 40 (12%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI was present.
• Four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House adopted two resolutions seeking extension of the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 for a further period of 90 days with effect from November 17, 2016.
• Introduced by Minister for Human Rights, the Forman Christian College, Lahore (Amendment) Bill 2016 was referred to the relevant standing committee.
• The House passed the Punjab Local Government (Fifth Amendment) Bill 2016, the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Punjab Blood Transfusion Safety Bill 2016 and the Punjab Poultry Production Bill 2016.
• Four lawmakers debated the Punjab Poultry Production Bill 2016 for 28 minutes before its passage.
• The House did not take up the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill 2016.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as five out of 12 Starred Questions were responded to during the Question Hour while 11 supplementary questions were also asked. Six of the remaining Starred Questions were deferred and one was disposed of due to absence of the mover.
• A Privilege Motion of PML-N lawmaker was referred to the relevant committee while the House deferred five Adjournment Motions moved by PTI, PML and PML-N lawmakers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on nine Points of Order consuming as many minutes of proceedings.
• Opposition parties protested on floor of the House for one minute against the remarks of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about protest of opposition.
• Two PTI lawmakers pointed out quorum twice during the proceedings but it was completed after ringing the bells on both instances.

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.