ISLAMABAD, December 24, 2014: Starting 51 minutes behind the schedule, the eleventh sitting of the Punjab Assembly’s ongoing session witnessed the introduction of two bills on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily factsheet.

Provincial Minister for Mines & Minerals introduced the Punjab Strategic Coordination (Amendment) Bill 2014 and the Punjab Local Government (Third Amendment) Bill 2014. Both bills were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations.

Seven (2%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 47 (13%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The quorum was visibly lacking during the entire sitting. However, it was not pointed out by any of the lawmakers. The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent. Among parliamentary leaders, only the JI and PPPP leaders attended the sitting.

Following are some key observations of the proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Punjab Assembly met for an hour and 39 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1051 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of 51 minutes.
• Seven members (2%) were present at the outset and 47 (13%) at the sitting’s adjournment. A maximum of 55 members (15%) were seen at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the House and the Opposition Leader were absent.
• The parliamentary leaders of JI and PPPP attended the sitting.
• None of the eight minority member was present.
• No member applied for leave.

Output

• Provincial Minister for Mines & Minerals introduced the Punjab Strategic Coordination (Amendment) Bill 2014 and the Punjab Local Government (Third Amendment) Bill 2014. Both bills were referred to the relevant committees for further deliberations.
• The Standing Committee on Education presented a report during the sitting while the House gave a two-month extension to the Standing Committee on Housing, Urban Development & Public Health Engineering to submit one of its reports.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Ten out of 34 starred questions appearing on the agenda were answered by the relevant departments, while 24 supplementary questions were raised by the MPAs.
• Two adjournment motions on Orders of the Day were not taken up.

Order and Institutionalization

• Ten points of order consumed 11 minutes of the proceedings’ time.
• No protests/walkouts/boycotts were witnessed.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was unavailable to the observers and public.

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The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN