ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2014: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly approved seven Demands for Grants of different departments while all cut motions were rejected or withdrawn during the 8th sitting of its 14th session on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its daily factsheet based on direct observation.
These Demands for Grants were related to expenditures of Provincial Assembly, Administration affairs, Ministries of Finance, Planning and Development, Information Technology, Revenue Department, Excise and Taxation Department.
The cut motions relevant to Ministries of Planning and Development, Information Technology and Excise and Taxation Department were withdrawn by the Opposition while cut motions for three others regarding Administration Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Revenue Department were rejected by majority voting. There was no cut motion against expenses of provincial assembly.
Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings:
- The KP Assembly met for eight hours and 35 minutes.
- The House had two breaks of two hours and 55 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1055 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours. The proceedings started late by 55 minutes.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Chief Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and Finance Minister attended the entire sitting.
- Parliamentary leaders of all parties were present.
- Thirty-two members were present at the outset while 81 were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 100 members were observed to be present at one point of the sitting.
- Three minority members attended the sitting.
- Two members applied for leave.
Output
- The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly approved seven Demands for Grants of different departments.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The cut motions moved by the Opposition relevant to departments of Planning and Development, Information and Technology and Excise and Taxation Department were withdrawn while other cut motion related to Ministry of Finance, Revenue Department and law and order affairs were rejected by voting.
Order and Institutionalization:
- Two points of order consumed three minutes of the proceedings.
Transparency:
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on members’ attendance was not available to observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of KP Assembly proceedings conducted by PAIMAN, a member organization of FAFEN
