ISLAMABAD, February 24, 2016: The Punjab Assembly passed three government bills on Wednesday during 19^th sitting of its 19^th 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 three hours and three minutes.
• The sitting started at 1053 hours against the scheduled time 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hour and 46 minutes while the Deputy chaired the rest of the proceeding.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 88 minutes.
• Five MPAs (1%) were present at outset and 86 (23%) at adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
• Six minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed three government bills namely the Punjab Forest (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2015 and the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Bill 2015.
• Five lawmakers debated the Punjab Forest (Amendment) Bill 2015 for thirty minutes. It was passed with majority vote.
• The Punjab Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill 2015 was not debated and passed with majority vote.
• The debate on the Punjab Protection of Women against Violence Bill 2015 continued for ten minutes and three lawmakers spoke on it. It was passed unanimously.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The government orally replied to three out of 12 starred questions appearing on agenda while two questions were disposed of due to absence of relevant lawmakers. The lawmakers also asked 11 supplementary questions. Seven questions related to the Agriculture Department were deferred on request of the concerned minister.
• Six Adjournment Motions submitted by Opposition lawmakers were deferred due to absence of concerned parliamentary secretaries.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers spoke on 10 points of order consuming 11 minutes of proceeding.
• Two PTI lawmakers pointed out quorum twice at 1238 hours and 1314 hours. It was found lacking on both occasions and bells were rung for five minutes after which it was completed.

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.