ISLAMABAD, February 14, 2020: The Senate passed six government bills on Friday and consumed two-third of the proceedings’ time on points of public importance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

 Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 22^nd sitting of the 295th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 11 minutes.
• The sitting started at its scheduled time of 1400 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was also present.
• The Leader of the House attended the sitting for an hour and 35 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 41 minutes.
• Ten lawmakers (9%) were present at the outset and 21 (20%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PTI, PML-N, NP, JI, JUI-F, PkMAP, and PPPP attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output.

• Tabled by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed five government bills including the Legal Aid and Justice Authority Bill, 2020; the Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2019; the Enforcement of Women’s Property Rights Bill, 2020; the Superior Courts (Court Dress and Mode of Address) Order (Repeal) Bill, 2020 and the Banks (Nationalization) (Amendment) Bill, 2020. Earlier, reports of the relevant Standing Committees on these bills were presented in the House.
•   Leader of the House tabled the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Bill, 2019 which was also passed by the House.
•   Chairperson Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs presented report of the Committee on the PSDP proposed by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs for the Financial Year 2020-2021.
• On behalf of Chairman Committee on Delegated Legislation, a member of the Committee presented eleventh quarterly report of the Committee.
• Tabled by Leader of the House, the House passed a motion to defer question hour.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twelve lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for an hour and 37 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Leader of the House spoke on a point of order for two minutes.
• An MQMP lawmaker protested during the proceedings for three minutes when the Chair did not allow him to speak on a point of public importance.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on February 17, 2020 (Monday) at 1600 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