ISLAMABAD, April 21, 2016: The Senate on Thursday transacted its entire agenda appearing on ‘Order of the Day’ during 6^th sitting of its 127th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for four hours and 51 minutes.
• The sitting started one minute late against its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The House had a prayer break for 13 minutes.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for three hours and 55 minutes.
• The Opposition Leader was present for two hours and 22 minutes.
• 18 (17%) Senators were present at the start and 19 (18%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PTI, BNP-M, PPPP, PkMAP, NP, ANP and PML-F were present.
• Two minority members were present.

.Output

• Jointly sponsored by Leader of the House, Opposition Leader and Parliamentary Leaders of ten political parties, the House adopted a resolution for renumbering the Senate sessions by starting from August 6, 1973. The renumbering was required to remove the effect of re-initiating session numbering after every unconstitutional suspension of the House.
• The House witnessed the presentation of five reports of the standing committees on matters referred to them.
• The House adopted amendments in rules 2, 89 and 165 and addition of new rule 264A in the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate, 2012.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Chair admitted an adjournment motion to discuss suicide blast at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore. Sixteen lawmakers participated in debate on it and spoke for 82 minutes.
• The House passed two motions under Rule 194 (1) seeking extension till June     29, 2016 to submit legislative reports on the Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill, 2016 and the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
• The House took up two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) about non-initiation of the process for appointment of new members of the Election Commission of Pakistan and recent rainfall, flood and land sliding in various areas of Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
• The House took 21 out of 26 starred questions appearing on the agenda. In addition, the lawmakers also asked 30 supplementary questions.
• The House discussed a commenced motion under Rule 218 about Panama Leaks. Six lawmakers participated in debate for 62 minutes. The Chair informed the House that Panama Leaks has been debated for four hours and 33 minutes so far during the ongoing session.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven Points of Order consumed 24 minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.

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