ISLAMABAD, June 20, 2012:  Starting 27 minutes late, the tenth sitting of the ongoing session, which met for six hours, passed the budget on Wednesday. The House approved 50 demands for grants during the sitting.

The long-stretched sitting witnessed low attendance of Members as 39 were present at the start and 40 were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present. Only the parliamentary leaders of PML and PPPS were present. 

The Opposition Benches staged a walkout against the Speaker’s decision to suspend all cut motions. The walkout lasted 58 minutes

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Assembly met for six hours.
• The sitting started at 1527 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1500 hours. The House proceedings started late by 27 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for five hours and seven minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of PML and PPPS were present.
• A total of 39 Members (31% of total membership – 124) were present at the start, while 40 (32%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• One minority Member was present during the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House approved 50 demands for grants during the sitting.

Output

• No other agenda appeared on the Agenda.

Order and Institutionalization

• One Point of Order consumed two minutes of the sitting.
• The Opposition Benches staged a walkout against the Speaker’s decision to suspend all cut motions. The walkout lasted 58 minutes

Transparency

• List of Business was available to legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.

• Copies of the budget speech were available to the legislators.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN Alumni Trust, a member organization of FAFEN