Senate passes government bill, defers motion seeking amendments in rules

  • Session prorogued

 ISLAMABAD, June 03, 2021: The Senate passed a government bill and deferred a motion seeking amendments in rule 9 and insertion of Fourth Schedule related to election of chairman and deputy chairman, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during sixth and last sitting of 311th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Senate met for two hours and 50 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 10:05 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
  • The chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
  • The deputy chairman was also present.
  • The leader of the house attended the entire sitting.
  • The leader of the opposition attended the sitting for two hours and ten minutes.
  • As many as 33 lawmakers (33 percent) lawmakers were present at the outset and 22 (22 percent) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PPPP, MQMP, BNP, PkMAP, JUI and PML-Q attended the sitting.
  • Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

  • Moved by the Minister of State for parliamentary affairs, the House passed the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The bill has already been passed by the National Assembly.
  • Adviser to the Prime Minister on parliamentary affairs introduced the Emigration (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was referred to the relevant committee for deliberation.
  • Minister of State for parliamentary affairs presented the 2nd Biannual Monitoring report on the implementation on NFC Award (January-June, 2020).
  • The House deferred a motion on mover’s request seeking amendments in Rule 9 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012 and also insertion of new “Fourth Schedule” related to election of chairman and deputy chairman senate.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs responded to a calling attention notice regarding representation of small provinces particularly Balochistan in top positions of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
  • Seventeen lawmaker spoke on points of public importance for an hour and 22 minutes mainly related to census results, maritime affairs, governance and media issues.
  • The House did not debate motion of thanks to the President due to non-submission of speakers’ name to the Chair by the parliamentary leaders.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The session was prorogued sine die.

 Transparency

  • “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted