ISLAMABAD, February 26, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed a resolution and four government bills on Friday during 21^st sitting of its 19^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following the conclusion of its proceeding, the Assembly was prorogued.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 47 minutes.
• The sitting started at 0950 hours against the scheduled time 0900 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy was not present.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• 10 MPAs (2%) were present at outset and 92 (25%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed a resolution under the Article 144 of the Constitution authorizing Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) to legislate concerning the matters relating to “Hindu Marriages”.
• The House also passed four government bills including The Punjab Private Educational Institutions (Promotion And Regulation) (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Punjab Education Foundation (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Ali Institute of Education Lahore (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan (Second Amendment) Bill 2015. These bills, except the first one, were passed unanimously and were considered after dispensing with the requirements of the Rule 95 of the Rules of Procedure of the Punjab Assembly.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally replied to five out of eight starred questions appearing on agenda while the lawmakers also asked 21 supplementary questions. The Chair deferred a question for answers in a later sitting.
• The House deferred five Adjournment Motions submitted by a Opposition lawmakers due to absence of relevant parliamentary secretaries.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on six points of order consuming nine minutes of proceeding.
• A PTI lawmaker pointed out quorum at 1118 hours. It was found lacking on headcount and was not completed even after ringing the bells for five minutes leading to the suspension of the proceeding at 1124 hours. The House reassembled at 1152 hours.

Transparency

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

To download the factsheet in Urdu, click here

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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.