KP Assembly Sitting Adjourned due to Lack of Quorum

ISLAMABAD, August 28, 2019: The second sitting of the requisitioned session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly was adjourned on Wednesday due to lack of quorum, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of eighth session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Assembly met for two hours and 24 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1103 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 25 minutes while the remaining sitting was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the entire proceedings.
  • Fifty legislators (34%) were present at the outset and 26 (18%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PML-N, ANP, MMAP and PPPP attended the proceedings.
  • Three out of four minority lawmakers were present.

Output                                             

  • The House passed the National Disaster Management (KP) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 which was earlier introduced in the House on July 15, 2019.
  • Advisor to Chief Minister on Elementary and Secondary Education introduced the KP Razmak Cadet College Regulations (Repeal) Bill, 2019 in the House.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House discussed India’s attempt to change status of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir. Three lawmakers – one each from ANP, MMAP and PML-N – participated in the discussion that continued for an hour and 30 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • An MMAP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1325 hours which led to the ringing of bells for two minutes. The quorum did not complete after ringing of the bells following which the Chair announced to adjourn the House to meet again on August 29, 2019 (Thursday) at 1030 hours.

 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