ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly held discussion on the supplementary budget 2015-16 amid low attendance of lawmakers during 7th sitting of its 19th session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
The sitting started 18 minutes behind the schedule with 46 members (37%) present at the start and 29 (23%) at the time of adjournment.The House offered `Fateha’ for the departed soul of famous Qawwal Amjad Sabri who was assassinated in Karachi on June 22.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation
- The KP Assembly met for two hours and 55 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1418 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
- 46 lawmakers (37%) were present at the start and 29 (23%) at the end of the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Deputy Speaker was present.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 52 minutes.
- The Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
- The Finance Minister remained present during the entire proceedings.
- The parliamentary leaders of QWP, JI and ANP attended the sitting.
- One minority member was present.
- Nine members applied for leave.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Chief Minister spoke about supplementary budget 2015-16 for three minutes while Leader of the Opposition expressed his views on it for 36 minutes.
- Ten lawmakers – PTI (4), PML-N (2) and one each of JI, JUI-F, PPPP and ANP – also debated the supplementary budget for two hours and seven minutes.
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.