Punjab PA Skips Regular Agenda to Discuss Privilege Motion of Deputy Speaker

ISLAMABAD, January 27, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab suspended its regular agenda on Monday to discuss privilege motion of Deputy Speaker against alleged misconduct of police with him, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during third sitting of the 18th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 37 minutes while the sitting remained suspended for an hour and 52 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1631 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy speaker was also present.
  • The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • As many as 32 (9%) MPAs were present at the outset and 168 (45%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
  • Four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House did not take up regular agenda.

 Order and Institutionalization

  • The House considered a Privilege motion of Deputy Speaker against alleged misconduct of police with him. As many as 14 lawmakers spoke for 28 minutes on the matter while the Speaker gave a ruling to summon Inspector General of Police (IGP) Punjab.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on January 28, 2020 (Tuesday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

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

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