ISLAMABAD, December 11, 2020: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) passed two government bills and adopted one resolution on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during fifth sitting of the 15^th session: 

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 17 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Leaders of the House and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
• Forty-nine (34%) legislators were present at the start and 56 (39%) at the end of the sitting.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of ANP and PML-N attended the sitting.
• All four minority members were present.

Output

• The House passed two government bills including the KP Universities (Second Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the KP Rehabilitation of Minorities (Victim of Terrorism) Endowment Fund Bill, 2020.
• Tabled by a PPPP lawmaker, the House adopted a supplementary resolution demanding of the federal government to issue blue passport to MPAs as the same were provided to members of national assembly and upper House of Parliament for life time.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up six out of ten starred questions while remaining four questions were lapsed due to absence of movers. In addition, the lawmakers asked three supplementary questions.
• Jointly sponsored by MMAP and PPPP lawmakers, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for discussion in the House which was regarding gas and electricity load-shedding in the province.
• The Chair referred the privilege motion of a PTI lawmaker to the relevant committee which was against District Health Officer (DHO) Lower Dir.
• Two lawmakers including the Minister for Law and ANP Parliamentary Leader debated an adjournment motion for 20 minutes. It was regarding reopening of educational institutions in province by ensuring implementation on SOPs in letter and spirit.
• Minister for Law responded to two Call Attention Notices (CANs) which were regarding illegal appointments in University of Lakki Marwat and police failure to check crime in Hyatabad area of Peshawar.

Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for 15 minutes.
• The session was adjourned for an indefinite period and the date for the next sitting would be notified later.

 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 the direct observation of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly proceedings conducted by the United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted