ISLAMABAD, August 2, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took up its entire agenda and adopted two supplementary resolutions, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during 2nd sitting of the 20th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 35 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:15 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker presided over the entire sitting, while the deputy speaker was also present.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present.
• The leader of the opposition attend the entire sitting.
• Sixty legislators (60 percent) were present at the outset and 55 (38 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of ANP, BAP, MMAP and PML-N attended the proceedings.
• Three out of four minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output 

• Moved by Provincial Minister for Local Government, the House passed two bills including the KP Probation and Parole Bill, 2021 and the KP Home Based Workers (Welfare and Protection) Bill, 2021.
• Provincial Minister for Labor introduced the KP Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and the KP Shops and Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2021.
• The House adopted two supplementary resolutions demanding to facilitate small traders through adequate assessment of sales tax and pay compensation amount to the family of Nasir Khan, belonging to Swat, murdered in Karachi on June 21, 2021. These resolutions were sponsored by lawmakers belonging to PPPP and ANP respectively.
• Provincial Minister for Local Government presented reports on the observance and implementation of Principles of Policy in relation to the affairs of KP Province for the year 2019 and 2nd bi-annual monitoring on the implementation of National Finance Commission (NFC) award (January-June, 2020).

Representation and Responsiveness  

• The House took up eight out of ten starred questions, while two questions were deferred. In addition the lawmakers asked four supplementary questions.
• Sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for discussion urging the provincial government to take preventive steps in those areas of Peshawar declared polio sensitive.
• Minister for Local Government responded to a calling attention notice (CAN) demanding the uniformity in salaries and allowances announced for all government employees.
• Another CAN on the agenda was deferred on request of Minister for Communication and Works.

Order and Institutionalization

• Four lawmakers spoke on points of order for ten minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available for the legislators, observers and the media.
• Attendance of the lawmakers was not available for the observers and the media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the KP Assembly proceedings conducted by the United Rural Development Organization (URDO) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted