ISLAMABAD, March 14, 2018: The Punjab Assembly passed nine legislative bills and two resolutions including a private member’s bill the Punjab Anand Karaj Bill, 2017 on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 26^th sitting of the 34^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 55 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1140 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and 27 minutes.
• As many as 40 MPAs (11%) were present at outset and 37 (10%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PML-Z was present during the proceedings.
• As many as six minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by a minority lawmaker belonging to PML-N, the House passed the Punjab Anand Karaj Bill, 2017. Seven lawmakers spoke on the bill following its passage.
• The House passed the Bahawalpur Development Authority (Repeal) Bill 2018, the Limitation (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018, the University of Narowal Bill 2018, University of Sialkot Bill 2018, the Punjab Tianjin University of Technology Lahore Bill 2017, the Punjab Hepatitis Bill 2017, the Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences Bahawalpur Bill 2018 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill 2018. As many as four lawmakers spoke on these bills consuming 18 minutes.
• The Special Committee No. 9 presented its report. The House adopted the recommendations made in the report.
• The House unanimously adopted two private members’ resolutions recommending the government to ban ‘DJ Nights’ in the educational institutions and legislate for protection of students especially special against violence. As many as three resolutions were deferred.
• The Provincial Minister for Law laid the Special Audit Reports on various Private Housing Schemes, the Special Audit Report on Water & Sanitation Agency (WASA) Lahore and the Project Audit Report on construction of Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro Bus Project.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as two one out of nine Starred Questions were answered during the proceedings while two questions were disposed and five were deferred of due to absence of the concerned lawmakers. The lawmakers asked five supplementary questions as well.
• The House deferred an Adjournment Motion and a Zero Hour Notice on the request of the government.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised 16 Point of Order consuming 20 minutes of the proceedings.
• PTI lawmakers identified quorum thrice during the proceedings. However, it was completed on all occasions after ringing the bells for five minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, March 15, 2018 at 1000 hours.

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.