ISLAMABAD, May 3, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed a government bill while referred another to the Select Committee on Tuesday during third sitting of its 17th session, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).
Following are some key observations of the House proceeding:
Members’ Participation in House Proceeding
- The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly met for two hours and 56 minutes while also taking break for an hour and eight minutes during the sitting.
- The sitting started at 1538 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 56 minutes.
- 42 lawmakers (28%) were present at the outset while 49 (44%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of JI, QWP, PML-N, JUI-F and ANP attended the sitting.
- One minority members was present.
- Eleven members applied for leave.
Output
- Moved by the Minister for Finance, the House passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servant Retirement Benefits and Death Compensation (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
- The House referred the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to the Select Committee for further deliberations.
- The House also adopted a supplementary resolution granting sixty days extension to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2016.
- A member of the Standing Committee on Higher Education, Archives and Libraries presented the report of the Committee in the House. Prior to presentation of the report, the House approved a motion seeking extension in time for presentation of the report of the committee.
- The House adopted the Report of the Standing Committee on Irrigation.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Six out of 15 starred questions appearing on agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministries/departments. In addition, the legislators raised three supplementary questions during the sitting.
- Two Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the agenda were not taken up due to absence of the movers.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers raised three Points of Order consuming 11 minutes of the sitting.
- A lawmaker belonging to PPPP staged walkout at 1815 hours when the Chair did not allow him to speak on a point of order.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- 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.