ISLAMABAD, January 16, 2018: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly was adjourned on Tuesday without addressing its agenda due to lack of quorum and protests, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during eighth sitting of the 27th session:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for 31 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1532 hours against the scheduled time 1500 hours.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire sitting as the Speaker was not present.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- As many as 22 MPAs (18%) were present at outset and 28 (22%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, QWP, ANP and PPPP attended the sitting.
- Only one minority lawmaker was present.
Output
- The House did not take up three bills and a resolution appearing on the List of Business.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The House did not hold the Question Hour.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised four Points of Order consuming 12 minutes of the proceedings.
- A JUI-F lawmaker protested during the proceedings twice against the provincial government for denying his constituency its share in the gas royalty. The opposition lawmakers also joined him in the protest on both occasions. The first protest continued for eight minutes and the second for ten minutes.
- A QWP lawmaker identified the quorum at 1535 hours; however, the chair ignored it.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed the quorum again at 1540 hours. The chair ordered to ring the bells for two minutes after which the proceedings resumed.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, January 19, 2018.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Information on Members’ attendance is not available to observers and media.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.