ISLAMABAD, January 11, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab was adjourned on Friday without holding a scheduled discussion on the annual performance reports major cities’ development authorities, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the sixth session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for an hour and 21 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1110 hours against the scheduled time of 0900 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting in the absence of the Speaker who is performing duties as Acting Governor of Punjab.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 62 MPAs (17%) were present at the outset while 50 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• As many as two out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House did not hold the scheduled discussion on Annual Reports of Development Authorities of Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad for the year 2012-13.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up five out of eight Starred Questions while three questions were deferred due to absence of the relevant minister or mover. These questions were addressed to the ministries of Services & General Administration, Transport and Zakat & Ushr. The lawmakers asked 11 supplementary questions as well.

Order and Institutionalization

• A lawmaker belonging to PPPP staged a three-minute walkout against the federal cabinet’s decision to place the names of PPPP leadership on Exit Control List (ECL).
• The entire opposition staged a token walkout for a minute in solidarity with the journalists who were protesting against downsizing by their employers.
• As many as 24 lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming 27 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 14, 2019 (Monday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

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