ISLAMABAD, August 25, 2014: Starting 43 minutes behind schedule, the 4th sitting of the ongoing 13th session of Balochistan Assembly witnessed low attendance of MPAs. As many as 22 legislators were present at the outset while 15 were there at the adjournment of the sitting, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.
The quorum was visibly lacking at various stages of the sitting. It was pointed by a JUI-F member which prompted the adjournment of the sitting.
The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting, while his counterpart, the Leader of the Opposition was present during the entire sitting.
Following are some key observations of the proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Balochistan Assembly met for an hour and 54 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1643 hours against the scheduled time of 1600 hours witnessing a delay of 43 minutes.
- Twenty-two lawmakers (34%) were present at the outset while 15 (23%) were there at the adjournment. A maximum of 26 (40%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
- The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
- The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present during entire sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of ANP, PkMAP and JUI-F attended the sitting.
- One minority member attended the sitting.
- Five members applied for leave.
Output
- The Balochistan Prohibition of Private Money Lending Bill, 2014 was taken up and sent to the Public Accounts Committee.
- The Audit of Accounts Report 2013-14 was presented to the House.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Eight out of nine Starred Questions (requiring oral answers) on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministry. In addition, six supplementary questions were asked.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three Points of Order consumed four minutes of the proceedings’ time.
- A JUI-F lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1613 hours. The Chair ordered the bells to be rung for five minutes but due to the lack to quorum the sitting was suspended for 15 minutes. At 1637 hours, the sitting was adjourned to meet again on August 28, 2014.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Balochistan Assembly proceedings conducted by Center for Peace and Development (CPD), a Member organization of FAFEN
