ISLAMABAD, March 13, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of the Punjab passed two bills and discussed an Adjournment Motion regarding security system in public educational institutes on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 16^th sitting of the seventh session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours.
• The sitting started at 1300 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present during the proceedings.
• The Leaders of the House and Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 65 MPAs (18%) were present at the outset and 98 (26%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• As many as three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center Bill, 2019. The bill was introduced in the House on February 20, 2019 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Specialized Healthcare and Education which presented its report on March 08, 2019. As many as eight lawmakers participated in debate on bill for 46 minutes.
• Moved by a PML-N lawmaker, the House also passed the Punjab Public Representatives Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 in light of the report presented by the Standing Committee on Law. The bill was referred to the committee on March 12, 2019.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Ministers for Youth Affairs and Sports and Population Welfare responded to three Starred Questions while the lawmakers asked seven supplementary questions as well.
• The Minister for Schools Education responded to an Adjournment Motion regarding poor security system in public education institutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as four lawmakers spoke on Points of Order for five minutes.
• The lawmakers belonging to PML-N staged walkout at 1453 hours against the Chair’s decision for disallowing their fellow member to speak on the Private Members’ bill. The walkout continued until the adjournment of sitting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on March 14, 2019 (Thursday) at 1100 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.

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.