ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: Pre-election politicking behind the scenes seemed to have struck a sparsely attended National Assembly on Thursday with some signs of unease on desertion-hit opposition benches, though the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) stressed the house must work until the last day of its life.

While only 50 days were left for the five-year tenures of the present government and the lower house to run out, bureaucracy too appeared to be lacking interest in its responsibilities to parliament as written answers not furnished for nearly half of questions entered for the fourth day of the current session of the house.

The ministry of interior was reprimanded as the main culprit for “too high” number of unanswered questions – seven out of 15 starred questions needing both written and oral answers and 13 out of 30 unstarred ones that needed only written answers – by PPP member Yasmeen Rehman, who was then chairing the sitting, drawing an assurance from the minister of state for interior, Chaudhry Imtiaz Safdar Waraich, that “it will not happen in the future”.

Absenteeism had hit both sides of the aisle amid talk of intense activities behind the scenes by leading politicians from the ruling coalition and opposition to win over lawmakers from the other side or prevent desertions from their own ranks.

The 342-seat house never seemed having the required quorum of 86 members apparently because of likely horse-trading that saw some influential members of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N from Punjab switching to the PPP and a meeting of a parliamentary commission boycotted by the PML-N that had invited lawmakers from south Punjab to give their views about the name and capital of a new province proposed for Seraiki-speaking region before it submits its report and a likely draft of a required constitution amendment bill, possibly before the end of the present session.

As a sign of worry, most PML-N benches remained empty with some of its important leaders, including Leader of Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, having gone to Lahore reportedly to discuss counter-moves after recent desertions and possible candidates for interim governments to be set up at the centre and the four provinces to oversee the next elections.

Some opposition members have been speculating in their speeches that this session, which began on Monday and is tentatively scheduled to last until Jan 30, could be the last of the present assembly.

But the PPP chief whip and religious affairs minister, Khursheed Ahmed Shah, while responding to some angry outbursts from two PML-N members, seemed to contradict this impression, saying: “Parliament works even on its last day.”