ISLAMABAD, October 12, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab discussed law and order situation in the province and referred four legislative proposals including two Ordinances to relevant committees, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of 25^th session: 

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1638 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 56 minutes in the absence of Speaker while rest of the sitting was chaired by a member of Panel of Chairpersons.
• The Leaders of the House and Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 14 (3%) MPAs were present at the outset and 38 (10%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• Four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Provincial Minister for Law introduced two government bills including the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Stamp (Amendment) Bill, 2020. He also laid two ordinances in the House which were the Punjab Infectious Deceases (Prevention and Control) (Amendment) Ordinance 2020 and the Sugar Factories (Control) (Amendment) Ordinance 2020. All these legislative proposals were referred to the relevant Committees.
• The House deferred two adjournment motions due to absence of movers. These motions were regarding rape incidents in Lahore and poor security in various housing societies.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up eight out of 45 starred questions while the lawmakers also asked 17 supplementary questions.
• The House took up three Calling Attention Notices regarding two separate rape incidents on motorway, Raiwind city and murder of four people in Punjab Housing Society.
• As many as three lawmakers debated the law and order situation in the province consuming 33 minutes of the proceedings.

 Order and Institutionalization

• As many as three lawmakers spoke on points of order for 15 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on October 13, 2020 (Tuesday) at 1400 hours.

Transparency

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

 

The 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 regretted