ISLAMABAD, October 17, 2016: The Punjab Assembly could not take up its legislative business due to lack of quorum on Monday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

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

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for 48 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1646 hours against the scheduled time 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for first ten minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Seventeen MPAs (4%) were present at outset and 83 (22%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP was present.
• Four minority members attended the sitting.

Output

• The House could not take up four resolutions and as many bills appearing on Orders of the Day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as two out of 24 Starred Questions were responded to by the government during Question Hour while the lawmakers asked seven supplementary questions. Moreover, one Starred Question was disposed of due to absence of the mover and 21 were deferred due to absence of the relevant ministers
• The House deferred four Adjournment Motions moved by PTI and PML-N lawmakers.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on six Points of Order consuming eight minutes of proceedings.
• A PML lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1726 hours that led to the adjournment of proceedings.

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.