ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan started general discussion on the Provincial Budget for Financial Year 2016-17 and approved twenty five demands for grants for various departments during 2nd sitting of its 30th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for two hours and eight minutes.
- The sitting started at 1540 hours against scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- Thirty-five (55%) lawmakers were present at the start and 30 (47%) at the time of adjournment of sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the sitting for one hour while the remaining proceeding was presided by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The post of Deputy Speaker is lying vacant.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, PML-N, NP, PML, MWM, JUI-F and ANP were present.
- Two minority members attended the sitting.
- Two members applied for leave.
Output
- The House unanimously approved twenty five demands for grants for various government departments.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Five lawmakers – PkMAP (2), NP, PML and JUI-F (one each) – took part in general discussion on Budget consuming an hour and 49 minutes of the proceeding.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Attendance of Members was not made public.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Balochistan Assembly proceeding conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.