ISLAMABAD, May 10, 2016: The Punjab Assembly adopted four private members resolutions on Tuesday during third sitting of 21^st session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 22 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1117 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 22 minutes.
• 35 MPAs (9%) were present at outset and 28 (77%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the sitting.
• Three minority members were present.

Output

• Moved by two PTI lawmakers, the House adopted resolutions urging the government to take more steps against smuggling and to introduce a chapter on Child Protection in the curriculum.
• Moved by PML lawmaker, the House adopted a resolution urging the government to enforce laws against use of banned drugs and take strict actions against producers and sellers of steroids.
• The House also adopted an out-of-turn resolution moved by PML-N lawmaker condemning the incident of burning a girl in Abbotabad.
• The House deferred three resolutions appearing on agenda while one was disposed of due to absence of the mover.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally responded to two out of eight starred questions appearing on the agenda while six questions were deferred. The lawmakers asked also four supplementary questions. A Short Notice Question was also taken up and answered. The mover asked four supplementary questions as well.
• Four notices regarding matters of urgent importance to be taken up in Zero Hour were disposed of due to absence of movers while one was deferred and another was answered by the relevant minister.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 19 points of order consuming 24 minutes of the proceeding.
• A PPP lawmaker staged walkout for 14 minutes against the irregularities in distribution of jute bags.
• A PML-N lawmaker staged walkout against the Deputy Speaker who did not allow him to speak during Zero Hour. The Chair banned the entry of the lawmaker in to the House for one day.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

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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.