Balochistan Assembly Passes Finance Bill, Approves 58 Demands for Grants

ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2017: The Balochistan Assembly on Wednesday passed the Balochistan Finance Bill, 2017 and approved 58 demands for grants, reports Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 5th sitting of the 42nd session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Balochistan Assembly met for three hours and 32 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1516 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
  • The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire proceedings.
  • Nineteen lawmakers (29%) were present at the outset and 32 (49%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • Parliamentary leaders of PkMAP, JUI-F, PML-N, NP, PML and ANP were present.
  • Three minority members also attended the sitting.
  • Two members applied for leave.

Output

  • The House passed the Balochistan Finance Bill, 2017 and approved 58 demands for grants of various government departments. No cut motion was moved on these demands for grants.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Chief Minister concluded the Budget debate and spoke for 32 minutes.
  • Seven other lawmakers spoke on provincial budget for two hours and 38 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • One minute was consumed on a point of order.

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 proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.