KP Assembly: Provincial Budget Presented amid Opposition’s Protest

ISLAMABAD, June 14, 2016: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly witnessed the presentation of the provincial budget for the upcoming financial year on Tuesday amid strong protest by the opposition parties, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started two minutes late against the scheduled time of 1600 hours  with  82 members (66% of the total membership-124) present at the start and 69 (55%) at the time of adjournment.

Along with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Bill 2016, the Finance Minister also presented the annual budget statement for the fiscal year 2016-2017 and the supplementary budget statement for the year 2015-2016.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly met for 108 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1602 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
  •  Eighty-two members (66%) were present at the start and 69 (55%) at the end of the sitting.
  • The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
  • The Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of all parties attended the sitting.
  • Two minority members were present.
  • Five members applied for the leave.

Output

  • The Finance Minister presented the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Finance Bill 2016 along with the annual budget statement of volume Rs. 505 billion for the fiscal year 2016-2017 and the supplementary budget statement for the year 2015-2016.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The opposition lawmakers started protest when the Finance Minister started his budget speech and kept chanting slogans throughout his speech .

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