ISLAMABAD, January 25, 2022: The Senate transacted 80 percent agenda and referred two government bills to relevant committee, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet on Tuesday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the tenth sitting of 317th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 11:00 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 was not present.
• The Prime Minister was not present.
• As many as 23 lawmakers (23%) were present at the outset and 38 (38%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-N, PTI, JI, PkMAP, NP, JUI-F, PML and BAP attended the sitting.
• All four minority lawmakers were present.

 Output

• The House referred two government bills to relevant committee for further consideration which were the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Second Amendment) Bill, 2022.
• Chairman standing committee on interior presented report of the committee on two points of public importance and a motion under rule 218.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up all six starred questions while lawmakers asked 16 supplementary questions.
• The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs) regarding trade deficit upto $ 24.787 billion in the first six months of the current financial year and alarming number of traffic accidents on RCD Highway (N-25) which runs from Karachi to Quetta and Chaman. These CANs were responded to by Minister of state for parliamentary affairs and communication, respectively.
• The House passed three motions under rule 194 (1) and granted extension to standing committee on interior for presentation of reports on matters referred to it.
• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of public importance for 25 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The entire opposition walked out from the proceedings for 19 minutes against the absence of Minister for commerce to respond a calling attention notice.
• A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 12:25 pm following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes. The quorum was found complete upon counting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, January 28, 2022 at 10:30 am.

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