ISLAMABAD, November 30, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed three government bills including two amendments to the Local Government Act while a bill and two ordinances were referred to the standing committees on Wednesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

• The Punjab Assembly met for three hours 42 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1116 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 50 minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 55 minutes.
• Twenty-six lawmakers (7%) were present at outset and twelve (3%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of JI attended the sitting.
• Five minority members attend the sitting.

Output

• Laid by the Minister for Law, the House referred the Punjab Land Records Authority Ordinance 2016, the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax (Amendment) Ordinance 2016 and the Punjab Urban Immovable Property Tax (Amendment) Bill 2016 to the relevant standing committees.
• Tabled by the Minister for Law, the House passed the Punjab Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2016, the Punjab Local Government (Sixth Amendment) Bill 2016 and the Forman Christian College Lahore (Amendment) Bill 2016.
• A PML- N lawmaker presented the report of the Standing Committee on Privileges.
• The House granted extension to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Special Committee and Standing Committee on Education for presentation of their reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• As many as 13 out of 35 Starred Questions were responded by the government during Question Hour. The lawmakers also asked 18 Supplementary Questions.
• The House held general discussion on issues related to agriculture sector. Five lawmakers participated in the debate consuming 26 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House deferred a Privilege Motion sponsored by PTI lawmaker.
• An Adjourned Motion regarding lack of Anesthesia Specialists in Government Hospitals was remained unaddressed.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 18 Points of Order consuming 19 minutes of the proceedings.
• Two lawmaker – Independent and PTI – pointed out quorum at 1319 and 1353 respectively. On both occasions, the quorum was completed after ringing the bells for five minutes.
• A lawmaker belonging to JI boycotted the proceedings for eight minutes against unsatisfactory answers to his question. Later, the entire Opposition staged a walkout for five minutes on same issue.
• A PTI lawmaker protested for three minutes against the attitude of the Chair for not allowing him to speak on a parliamentary intervention.

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.