• Session Prorogued

ISLAMABAD, September 18, 2020: The Senate transacted its entire agenda on Friday and consumed 43 percent of the proceedings’ time in debate on matters of public importance, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in the Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during the third sitting of 303^rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The Senate met for two hours and 23 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire proceedings.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• As many as 20 lawmakers (19%) were present at the outset and 23 (22%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, PkMAP, PTI, JI, JUI-F, PPPP, MQMP and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• Two minority lawmakers were present.

Output

• Tabled by an MQMP lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution to express sorrow and grief over the demise of former Senator Aftab Ahmad Sheikh.
• The House passed three motions under Rule 194 (1) granting 30-day extension to Standing Committee on Law and Justice for presentation of reports on three legislative proposals including the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 140); the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 73) and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 100).
• On behalf of Chairman Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat, a member of the Committee presented reports of the Committee on the Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry (Amendment) Bill, 2020 and on a Point of Public Importance regarding representation of provinces in regulatory authorities.
• Chairperson Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs presented report of the Committee on a Point of Public Importance regarding  future of the employees of ERRA.
• The House considered and adopted report of the Standing Committee on States and Frontier Regions on its visit to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from March 11 to March 12, 2020.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up seven out of 23 starred questions while lawmakers also asked 16 supplementary questions.
• Eleven lawmakers spoke on matters of public importance for an hour and two minutes (43% of the proceedings’ time). These matters were mostly related to human rights and national importance. 

Order and Institutionalization

• A privilege motion of an Independent lawmaker against an Assistant Commissioner Islamabad was referred to the relevant committee.
• Two lawmakers including the Leader of the Opposition and Parliamentary Leader of MQMP and Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs spoke on points of order for four minutes.
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

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