ISLAMABAD, August 3, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly passed the Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 during the first sitting of its 20th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for an hour and 49 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1551 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- 17 lawmakers (14%) were present at the start and 64 (52%) at the end of the sitting. A maximum of 71 members (57%) were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for an hour and 42 minutes while the Opposition Leader was present for an hour and 41 minutes.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, JI and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Two minority members were present.
- Eleven members applied for leave.
Output
- The House passed the KP Ehtesab Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and also witnessed presentation of Galiyat Development Authority Ordinance 2016 and KP Local Government (Amendment) Ordinance 2016.
- Another bill – the KP Universities (Amendment) Bill 2016 – was deferred by the House.
- The House adopted two resolutions.The first resolution was about resolving the problems of Overseas Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia while other condemned terrorist attack in Madina Munawara.
- The House rejected a disapproval resolution on the Galiyat Development Authority Ordinance, 2016 which was sponsored by a female PML-N lawmaker.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Sponsored by PPPP lawmaker, the House took up a calling attention notice to review the Rules of Business drafted before 18th amendment. It was agreed to constitute a committee for the purpose which would suggest necessary amendments.
Order and Institutionalization
- Two Points of Order consumed ten minutes of the proceeding.
- A PML-N lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1557 hours following which the Chair ordered the bells to be rung for two minutes. However, it was found complete upon counting.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceeding conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.