ISLAMABAD, June 26, 2013: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the Finance Bill 2013 in the eighth sitting of the second session on Wednesday. Starting an hour and six minutes late, the sitting lasted six hours and 15 minutes.

Eighteen members had raised 32 cut motions, all of which were later withdrawn. The House approved 51 Demands for Grants in the present sitting. There were 59 Demands for Grants in total of which eight were already approved.

A total of 65 members were present at the outset, 44 at the time of adjournment, whereas a maximum of 94 members were present at one point of sitting.

The Speaker chaired the sitting for 37 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker. The Chief Minister and the Finance Minister attended the entire sitting.

Following are some key observations of the assembly proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The KP Assembly met for six hours and 15 minutes. There were two breaks of on hour and 27 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1706 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours, witnessing the delay of an hour and six minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for 37 minutes while the remaining proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
• The Finance Minister was present.
• As many as 65 members were present at the outset while 44 were there at the time of adjournment. A maximum of 94 members were present at one point of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PMLN, JI, QWPS, ANP, and AJIP were present while those of JUIF and PPPP were absent. The only member of APML was also present.
• All the three minority members on reserved seats attended the sitting.
• One member applied for leave. 

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eighteen members raised 32 cut motions. All the cut motions were later withdrawn.
• The House approved 51 Demands for Grants in the present sitting. There were 59 Demands for Grants in total of which eight were already approved. 

Output

• The House passed the KPK Finance Bill 2013. 

Order and Institutionalization

• Three points of order consumed nine minutes of the sitting time.
• Two walkouts were observed during the sitting. A PMLN member walked of the House at 1900 hours in protest of detaining of students by the Police, because of which they missed their practical exam. In the other instance, the opposition walked of the House at 1903 hours in protest of law minister’s interference during the speech of a member. Both the parties returned at 1914 hours to attend the remaining proceedings. 

Transparency

• List of Business was available to the legislators, observer and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
• Copies of the budget speech were available to the legislators.

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