ISLAMABAD, March 30, 2015: The Punjab Assembly took up its entire agenda amid thin attendance and low participation of lawmakers on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 58 minutes behind the schedule with nine lawmakers (2%) present at the start and 10 (3%) at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 111 (30%) members attended the sitting. The quorum was pointed out by a JI lawmaker but was found to be complete upon headcount.

The House passed a resolution to regulate the publication of federal and provincial laws and also adopted a calling attention notice regarding the murder of a property dealer while resisting a robbery.

The House continued the pre-budget discussion which went on for over one hour. Ten PML-N members and one member from JI participated in the discussion. Following are some key observations from the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours and five minutes.
• The sitting started at 1458 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• Nine members (2%) were present at the start and 10 (3%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 111 (30%) members attended the sitting
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and JI attended the sitting.
• Five out of eight minority members were present.
• None of the members applied for leave

Output

• The House passed a resolution to regulate the publication of federal and provincial laws.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Ten out of 40 starred questions were taken up and responded by the relevant government departments. In addition, the MPAs raised 15 supplementary questions.
• Ten PML-N members and one JI lawmaker spoke on the pre-budget discussion for 62 minutes.
• A calling attention notice moved by a PPPP member regarding the murder of a property dealer was taken up and responded by the Punjab Home Minister.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised three points of order that consumed two minutes of the sitting.
• Two lawmakers from PPPP walked out of the House to protest the absence of the Finance Minister in the House. They returned to the House after 10 minutes.
• The quorum was pointed out by a JI lawmaker but was found to be complete upon headcount.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to legislators, observers and others.

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This 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 excepted.