ISLAMABAD, September 13, 2017: The Punjab Assembly adopted four resolutions on Wednesday including a supplementary government resolution commending the services and leadership of the former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of 31^st session:

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and 16 minutes of which the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and eight minutes due to lack of quorum.
• The sitting started at 1105 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 17 minutes.
• As many as 20 MPAs (5%) were present at outset and 60 (16%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP and JI attended the sitting.
• Five minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• The House adopted three resolutions under Article 128(2)(a) of the Constitution extending the term of the Parks and Horticulture Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2017, the Dera Ghazi Khan Development Authority (Repeal) Ordinance 2017 and the Punjab Criminal Prosecution Service (Constitution, Functions and Powers)(Amendment) Ordinance 2017 for a period of 90 days.
• The House granted two-month extension to the Public Accounts Committee No. 1 and the Standing Committees on Communication & Works, Food and Home for presentation of their reports.
• The House adopted a supplementary government resolution by majority vote praising the services of former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and posing confidence on him.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as nine out of 19 Starred Questions were taken up for answers during the proceedings. Moreover, eight questions were disposed of due to absence of the movers and two were deferred. The lawmakers also asked 22 supplementary questions.

• The House deferred three Adjournment Motions due to delay in replies from the government.
• The House referred a PTI lawmaker’s Privilege Motion to the relevant committee.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmaker spoke on seven Points of Order consuming nine minutes of the proceedings.
• A PTI lawmaker protested on floor of the House for three minutes against the government resolution regarding the former Prime Minister.
• Two PTI lawmakers pointed out the quorum thrice at 1235 hours, 1401 hours and 1412 hours. It was found incomplete in first instance leading to suspension of the proceedings for an hour and eight minutes. On last two occasions, the quorum was present.

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.