ISLAMABAD, March 6, 2015: The Upper House of the Parliament left 64 per cent of the agenda unaddressed during the first sitting of its 112th session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Fifteen Senators (14%) were present at the start of the sitting and 28 (27%) at the time of adjournment. The Leader of the House and the parliamentary leaders of PML, PML-N, PPPP, MQM, PML-F, BNP-A, JUI-F and NP did not attend the sitting. The Opposition Leader was present for 82 minutes.

Five periodic reports of various Standing Committees were not presented. The report of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs regarding a Point of Order raised by a PPPP Senator on December 30, 2014 and the motion to condone delay in presentation of this report were not presented in the House.

The House did not take up a motion of thanks to express gratitude to the President for his address to the joint session of the Parliament on June 2, 2014.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for an hour and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1110 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting. The Deputy Chairman was absent.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• Leader of the House did not attend the sitting while Opposition Leader was present for 82 minutes.
• Fifteen members (14%) were present at the start and 28 (27%) at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 38 senators (37%) were present at one point of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PkMAP and ANP attended the sitting.
• Two minority members were present.

Output

• MQM lawmaker presented the report of the Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control about the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
• PML-N lawmaker presented the report of Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization about the Privatization Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

Representation and Responsiveness                    

• Ten out of 60 starred questions were taken up during the sitting. Additionally, the Senators raised 23 supplementary questions. Under Rule 60, the House discussed a question (no. 27) for 47 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• No point of order was raised during the sitting.

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of FAFEN and in no way reflect the views of the European Union. This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.