ISLAMABAD, June 29, 2021: The Punjab Assembly passed two private members’ bills on Tuesday and deferred six zero hours notices, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the 11th sitting of the 33rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and nine minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:45 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The leaders of the House (Chief Minister) and the opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 83 MPAs (22 percent) were present at the outset and 97 (26 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP and PRHP attended the proceedings.
• As many as three out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

 Output

• The House passed two private members’ bills including the Punjab Holy Quran (Printing and Recording) (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab Privileges (Amendment) Bill 2021.
• A resolution on the agenda was deferred, while two others were disposed of after reply from the concerned ministers.

Representation and Responsiveness 

• The House took up two out of 27 starred questions, while lawmakers asked four supplementary questions as well.
• Provincial Minister for Health responded to zero hour notice regarding setting up of blood banks in the district headquarters hospitals of the province. Other six zero hour notices on the agenda were deferred.

Order and Institutionalization

• Six lawmakers spoke on points of order for 17 minutes related to governance issues and parliamentary business.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

 Transparency

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

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted