Quorum issue marred 31 NA sittings

What happens when the sufficient number of lawmakers does not attend a sitting of the National Assembly? The quorum is pointed out; the speaker is forced to adjourn the sitting and all the arrangements made for the day go in vain.

According to the Free and Fair Election Network (Fafen), 28 sessions – equivalent to 198 sittings – of the National Assembly have held since the PTI came into power. In these sittings, quorum was pointed out 46 times and 31 of these sittings had to be adjourned due to lack of quorum.

Simply put, quorum means the minimum number of members required to be present at a sitting of the house for transaction of its business. In the 342-member National Assembly, the presence of 86 members (one-fourth of the 342) is required under the rules to smoothly run the house proceedings.

Fafen – a non-governmental organization which provides parliamentary, governance, political and elections oversight – states that from August 13, 2018 till February 4, 2021, the NA has held 28 sessions or 198 sittings.

Surprisingly, the treasury benches have also pointed out quorum on two occasions since August 13, 2018. On one occasion, it was found complete while on the other occasion, the session was adjourned.

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the National Assembly 2007, if at any time during a sitting, attention of the chairperson is drawn to the fact that less than one-fourth of the total membership of the assembly is present, he shall either suspend the business until at least one-fourth of such membership is present, or cause the bells to be rung for five minutes.

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The rules state that if no quorum is available even on resumption of the proceedings after suspension or, when the bells stop ringing, the speaker shall adjourn the sitting for the next working day provided that the suspension of the business of the sitting shall not be for more than one hour.

According to the rules, the quorum for a committee is also one fourth of the total membership of that committee. Just like NA session, if at any time fixed for any sitting of a committee or at any time during any such sitting, the number of members present is less than the quorum, the chairman of the committee shall either suspend the sitting for a time not exceeding one hour or adjourn the sitting.

The opposition usually subverts house proceedings by pointing out the lack of quorum after exhausting all possible means to stop a session. The treasury benches, however, cover up the vulnerability when something important is on the agenda.

When the quorum is found incomplete, the assembly fails to take up the agenda items. Usually, before the quorum option is used, the assembly witnesses verbal clashes between the treasury and opposition lawmakers. The opposition uses it to bring the proceedings to a premature end.

The Rule 44 states that if a member is absent without leave of the assembly for 40 consecutive days of its sittings, the speaker shall bring the fact to the notice of the assembly and then any member may move that the seat of the absent member be declared vacant under Clause 2 of Article 64.