ISLAMABAD, February 27, 2012: Starting forty five minutes behind schedule, the second sitting of 35^th session of the Punjab Assembly lasted two hours and 15 minutes on Monday.

It witnessed low attendance of Members with only eight present at the outset and 41 when the sitting was adjourned. The Quorum, visibly lacking, was not pointed out by any of the legislators.

Out of 20 questions listed for the Question Hour, six were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 16 supplementary questions were raised.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for two hours and 15 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1545 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The House proceedings started 45 minutes late.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Only the parliamentary leader of the PML attended the sitting while those of MMAP, PMLF and PMLZ were absent.
• Eight Members (2% of the total Membership of 369) were present at the start while 41 (11%) were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• Four minority Members were present.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Out of 20 questions listed for the Question Hour, six were put up and responded to by the relevant ministries. A total of 16 supplementary questions were raised.

Output

• No Bills appeared on the Orders of the Day.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• Eleven Points of Order were raised during the sitting which consumed 25 minutes. None of the Points of Order raised attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.
  

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum, visibly lacking, was not pointed out by any of the MPAs.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization, a member organization of FAFEN