ISLAMABAD, May 9, 2016: The Senate left two third agenda unaddressed due to absence of movers participating in walkout from the House on Monday during first sitting of its 248^th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Senate met for two hours and 55 minutes. .
• The sitting started at 1509 hours against its scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting and the Opposition Leader was present for 125 minutes.
• Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• 28 (27%) senators were present at the start and 16 (15%) at the time of adjournment.
• Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-N, BNP-M, PPPP, ANP, MQM and NP were present.
• Two minority members were present.

Output

• The House adopted a resolution with majority vote for provision of Rs.8 billion out of the budget for current fiscal year  (2015-16) for conversion of tube wells   installed in Balochistan for agricultural purposes to solar energy.
• Another resolution adopted by the House was regarding supply of natural Gas to the residents of Circles Lora, Baghan, Bakot and Upper and Lower Galyat on priority basis.
• Four other resolutions on the agenda were not taken up by the House due to absence of movers which were about allocation of Rs. 3.15 billion for 58 projects of Ministry of Science and Technology under PSDP in upcoming budget, reduction in prices of petroleum products, establishing branches of Allergy Center of National Institute of Health in Peshawar, Quetta, Karachi and Lahore and condemning India for sponsoring and financing terrorism in Pakistan.
• Three bills including the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016; the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2016 were deferred on the request of movers participating in walkout.
• The National Accountability (Amendment) Bill, 2015 was dropped due to absence of mover. However, the Chair asked the mover to forward notice to him to consider this bill on next private members’ day.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House passed a motion under Rule 194 (1) to extend presentation period of a report for 30 working days which was about implementation on a resolution moved by PPPP Senator Sassui Palijo on February 29, 2016.
• The House discussed four motions under Rule 218 about means to stop smuggling, constructing reservoirs/dams at Margallah Hills Islamabad, financial position of OGDCL and introducing safety and security related subjects in curriculum of educational institutions in Islamabad.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four Points of Order consumed eight minutes of the sitting.
• The Opposition staged a walkout for 28 minutes against the absence of Prime Minister from the House. Again, they announced to boycott the sitting at 1742 hours on the same issue and did not return till adjournment of sitting at 1804 hours.

Transparency

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

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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