ISLAMABAD, January 14, 2020: The Senate referred seven government bills to the relevant committees for consideration and passed one legislative proposal on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth sitting of the 295^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 52 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for two hours and 21 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour 23 minutes.
• As many as 15 lawmakers (14%) were present at the outset and 14 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of BNP-M, PML-N, PTI, MQM, PkMAP and ANP attended the sitting.
• As many as two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output 

• The House referred seven government bills to the relevant committees which included the Zainab Alert, Response and Recovery Bill, 2020; the ICT Rights of Persons with Disability Bill, 2020; the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2020; the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Bill, 2020; the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Bill, 2020; the Superior Courts (Court Dress and Mode of Address) Order (Repeal) Bill, 2020 and the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• Moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority Bill, 2019.
• The House passed two separate motions granting extension of 60 days to Standing Committees on Aviation and Housing and Works for presentation of their reports.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up 16 out of 75 starred questions while lawmakers asked 31 supplementary questions as well.

 Order and Institutionalization

• As many as 16 lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 51 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 17, 2020 (Friday) at 1030 hours.

Transparency

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

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