ISLAMABAD, October 23, 2017: The Senate, on Monday, approved an opposition’s amendment to the Elections Act, 2017 seeking to refrain disqualified person from becoming an officer bearer of any political party, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 269^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for five hours and 31 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for 13 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and six minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, ANP, PPPP, PML-N, MQM, JUI-F, PkMAP and PML-F attended the sitting.
• As many as 16 (15% of the total membership – 104) lawmakers were present at the start and 14 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Three minority legislators also attended the proceedings.

Output

• Chairman, Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat presented a report of the committee on the Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• A PTI lawmaker introduced the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in the House. The bill was jointly sponsored by 12 lawmakers belonging to PTI and PPPP. The House passed the bill with majority vote suspending the requirement of Rule 98 of Senate Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. As many as 21 lawmakers debated the bill for 53 minutes while 49 lawmakers voted in favor of the bill and 18 against it.
• The House referred the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest Bill, 2017, the Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 153), the Federal Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and the National Commission on the Status of Women (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to the relevant standing committees following their introduction.
• The House adopted seven private members’ resolutions urging the government to ensure autonomy of the Election Commission of Pakistan in financial matters, construct a motorway to connect Karachi with other parts of the country, improve the performance of the Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute Karachi, ban the import of luxury items including exotic fruit,  establish separate counters for women in NADRA offices in District Mansehra, install biometric attendance system in all the Federal Government hospitals and take immediate steps for the revival of sick or closed sustainable textile units for the economic benefits of the country.
• Four other resolutions appearing on the agenda were dropped due to the absence of concerned lawmakers while two resolutions were deferred on requests of the mover and the relevant minister.
• The movers of the Islamabad Capital Territory Senior Citizens Welfare Bill, 2017, the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of sections 154 and 156 and insertion of new section 154A), the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of sections 46 and 57), the Islamabad Consumers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Anti-Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the Medical and Dental Council (Amendment) Bill, 2017, the National Health Care Bill, 2017, the Defamation (Amendment) Bill, 2017, and the Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of section 2) withdrew their bills.
• The House deferred the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
• The Chair informed the House that the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (Amendment of Article 228), the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Islamabad Restriction on Employment of Children Bill, 2017 had been received back from the Standing Committees and were awaiting notices under Rule 100 for their consideration in the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House held discussions on Motions under Rule 218 regarding revitalizing the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA), imposition of various taxes through electricity bills, delay in announcement of NFC Award, cartelization in the cement and automobile sectors, extremism and intolerance in society, continuous unprovoked ceasefire violation on Line of Control by India. As many 20 lawmakers took part in these discussions consuming an hour and 52 minutes. The Ministers for Law & Justice, Federal Education & Professional Training and Ports & Shipping summed up the discussions and consumed 21 minutes of the proceedings.
• The House deferred four Motions under Rule 218 on requests of concerned ministers or lawmakers while as many motions were dropped due to absence of the relevant lawmakers.
• The lawmakers raised three Points of Public Importance consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
• The Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training responded to a Point Of Public Importance regarding damaged fiber optic cable in Shoran area of Balochi

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers did not raise any Point of Order.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers is available on the Senate website.

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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