national assembly - attendance report...
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Performance of th14 National Assembly of Pakistan
2013 - 2018
Despite political controversies in the past five years, the 14th National Assembly took up an unprecedented legislative agenda by approving 205 bills as compared to 134 and 51 bills passed by 13th and 12th National Assemblies during their five-year terms, respectively.
The House approved several important pieces of legislation, including five constitutional amendments during 56 sessions comprising 495 sittings, that provided for setting up military courts for an initial period of two years and their subsequent extension for another two years, reallocation of National Assembly seats among federating units on the basis of fresh census results, electoral reforms and the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Elections Act, 2017, which reformed and consolidated the erstwhile eight separate election laws of the country, also saw light of the day during the term of the 14th Assembly.
Other important government legislations included reforms in the criminal justice system providing for compensation of litigation costs, institutionalization of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, witnesses' protection and expeditious disposal of law suits. The House also legislated for the right to information, whistleblowers' protection, climate change and institutional reforms. In addition to the legislation, the House adopted 209 resolutions making recommendations to the government on the issues concerning foreign affairs, economy, internal security, education, health and others.
Keeping the tradition set by the previous Assembly alive, the House passed 23 private members' bills as well. Overall 237 private members' bills were introduced in the Lower House. Among the parliamentary parties, MQM lawmakers were most keen towards introducing the private members' legislation as they sponsored nearly one third (75) bills during the reporting period. Private lawmakers of the ruling party, PML-N sponsored 53 bills, PPPP lawmakers 33 and PTI lawmakers 26. Moreover, legislators from two or more political parties collaborated in sponsoring nine private members' bills.
The lawmakers kept a close vigil on the executive by raising 13,912 questions, moving 533 Calling Attention Notices, and holding discussions on 45 Motions under Rule 259.
During the reporting period, 194 lawmakers of 16 parliamentary parties, including 56 women and 138 men, exercised their right to ask questions on the floor of the House. Women lawmakers asked 7,909 (57%) questions while men 6,003 (43%) questions. The government replied to 10,926 (79%) out of 13,912 questions while 2,977 (21%) questions remained unaddressed during the term of the Assembly.
Of 533 CANs submitted during five years, the House took up 424 (80%) CANs during the proceedings and sought government response on the issues of public importance. However, the House showed a dismal performance in taking up the Motions under Rule 259 as only 45 out of 329
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th14 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ENDS WITH LEGISLATIVE DISTINCTION
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
§ Both government and opposition members point out quorum 159 times § 182 Government and 23 Private Members' Bills Sail Through the House§ Nikhat Shakeel of MQM sponsors most bills, Asiya Naz of PML-N raises most CANs,
Muzammil Qureshi of MQM asks most questions, Sahibzada Tariqullah of JI sponsors most resolutions, while Sher Akbar of JI submits maximum Motions under Rule 259
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motions – 26 government and 303 private – came under discussion during the term of the Assembly. All of the government motions except one were discussed while only 20 private motions were taken up for discussion.
The 14th National Assembly passed 18 amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business by introducing some meaningful reforms. The composition of the Public Accounts Committee was changed to give representation to the Senate making it more powerful to oversight the financial discipline of the executive. In a historic first, the previous Assembly had amended the Rules of Procedure allowing the standing committees to scrutinize ministerial budgetary proposals before their inclusion in the federal budget and make recommendations on these proposals. Further strengthening the parliamentary role in the budget-making, the 14th Assembly bound the government ministries to inform the standing committees about incorporation of their recommendations in the final budgetary proposals. In another amendment, the House mandated the recitation of Naat before the commencement of its formal proceedings.
During five years of the Assembly, 306 (89%) out of 342 lawmakers actively participated in the House business by sponsoring agenda items and taking part in the plenary discussions. However, the lawmakers' attendance showed a declining trend over the period of five years with annual average attendance falling from 222 (65%) legislators per sitting during first year to 189 (55%) lawmakers per sitting
during the last year.
The outgoing Assembly was also unique in terms of the elections to the offices of the Speaker and the Leader of the House. The Assembly had to choose the Speaker and the Leaders of the House twice during its five-year term. The re-election to the office of the Speaker was necessitated by the de-seating of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq by an election tribunal which had declared his election as the Member of National Assembly null and void and ordered re-poll in his constituency NA-122. Following his re-election to the House, he became the only parliamentarian having been chosen as the Speaker twice during a single term of the Assembly. The re-election to the office of the Prime Minister took place due to the disqualification of former Premier Nawaz Sharif from holding public office by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in July 2017. Moreover, the House also witnessed the address by the Presidents of China, Turkey and Indonesia to the Joint Sessions of both Houses of the Parliament.
To see the list of top 10 performing parliamentarians against each agenda item, please refer to Annexure A.
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1st Parliamentary
Year
2nd Parliamentary
Year
3rd Parliamentary
Year
4th Parliamentary
Year
5th Parliamentary
Year Number of Sessions 11 11 10 10 14
Number of Assembly Sittings 99 92 99 97 108
Number of Joint Sittings 1 17 4 5 2
Number of Working Days 131 132 135 133 148
Preisdential Address to Parliament 1 1 1 1 1
Address by Indonesian President 1
Address by Chinese President 1
Address by Turkish President 1
Election of the Prime Minister 1 1 Election of the Speaker 1 1
Total Duration of Proceedings (hours) 355 276 334 317 293 Average Sitting Duration (hh:mm) 3:35 3:00 3:22 3:08 2:40 Average Delay before each Sitting (Minutes) 32 35 14 12 22 Average Maximum Attendance per sitting 222 194 208 205 189 *Sitting Attended by Member (Average) 65 63 63 61 60 *Maximum Attendance in any sitting 317 287 302 277 315 Minimum Attendance in any sitting 105 87 122 119 92 *Number of Active Members 304 260 295 270 306 Govt. Bills Passed 11 16 59 50 46 Private Members' Bills Passed 0 0 0 9 14 Private Members' Bills Introduced 45 35 44 68 45 CANs on Agenda
128
91
127
89
98
CANs Taken Up
104
70
111
74
69
Resolutions on Agenda
116
72
100
90
86
Resolutions Adopted
56
34
44
40
36
Amendments to Rules on Agenda
3
19
34
17
15
Amendments to Rules Adopted
0
0
4
8
7
Starred Questions
1890
1681
1987
1839
1321
Unstarred Questions
2084
980
1021
541
568
Motions Discussed (under Rule 259)
18
9
8
9
4
Identification of Quorum
19
7
26
42
65
Five Years at a Glance
Section 1: Assembly Sittings and Attendance
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Lawmakers' attendance and active participation during parliamentary proceedings is a fundamental indicator of representation and safeguarding citizens' interests. Moreover, it also ensures that public representatives are keenly overseeing the government's performance.
The 14th National Assembly took oath on June 1, 2013 and held 56 sessions in five years comprising 495 sittings. Of these, 99 sittings were held during the first parliamentary year, 92 during the second year, 99 during the third year, 97 during the fourth year and 108 during the fifth and last parliamentary year. Moreover, 29 joint sittings of both Houses of the Parliament were also held during this period.
According to the official records, each National Assembly sitting was attended by an average 202 (59%) lawmakers. However, an analysis of the attendance during different parliamentary years and sessions illustrates a declining trend of legislators' presence in the House proceedings. The annual average attendance has declined from 222 (65%) legislators per sitting during first year to 189 (55%) legislators per sitting during the fifth year. Similarly, the session-wise average fell from 311 (91%) per sitting during the first session to an all-time low 159 (46%) in the last (56th) session. Following graphs show the annual average attendance and session-wise average attendance of legislators.
Annual Average Attendance
222
194
208
203
189
180
190
200
210
220
230
1 2 3 4 5
An
nu
al A
verg
are
Att
end
ance
Parliamentary Years
1
1
1
5
3
11
12
17
14
5
3
8
16
28
33
49
50
54
21
7
Less than or equal to 10%
11% to 20%
21% to 30%
31% to 40%
41% to 50%
51% to 60%
61% to 70%
71% to 80%
81% to 90%
91% and Above
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S1: Assembly Sittings and Attendance
Session wise Average Attendance
31
12
46
29
11
96
22
12
14
20
62
40
21
62
03
22
52
39
25
51
80
19
61
75
18
41
86
27
01
72
18
92
45 23
31
99
23
51
59
20
01
96
20
71
97
22
32
31
22
61
90
20
31
93
16
81
86
21
62
12
19
32
18
22
02
12
20
51
73
20
02
13
23
51
68
17
41
79
19
21
71
18
51
59
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56
Mem
ber
s
Sessions
Categorized with regards to the number of sittings that each lawmaker attended during five years, as many as 12 lawmakers, including five women fall in the category of 91% or more attendance. As many as 35 lawmakers including 14 women had an attendance between 81% and 90% while 74 lawmakers including 17 women had an attendance between 71% and 80%. As many as four lawmakers including one woman attended less than 10% of the sittings. Below graph shows the gender-wise attendance of lawmakers in percentages.
Lawmakers' Attendance Patterns
Cat
ego
ry
Male Female
LEGISLATORS' ATTENDANCE
Calculated regionally, each sitting, on an average, had 111 legislators from Punjab, 43 from Sindh, 29 from KP, 11 from Balochistan, 7 from FATA and one from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Moreover, on an average, seven out of ten minority legislators also attended each sitting.
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Regional Average Attendance
Reg
ion
Average Attendance/Total Membership
10
43
17
2
183
12
75
7
29
11
1
117
7
43
Minority
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Balochistan
ICT
Punjab
FATA
Sindh
Average Attendance Total Membership
Legislators from both sides of the aisle indicated the lack of quorum – i.e. less than a quarter of the total membership being present – 159 times during five years. As many as 66 sittings had to be adjourned without complete their scheduled business due to lack of quorum. Additionally, the proceedings were suspended during 44 sittings to wait for the completion of quorum. On remaining 49 occasions, the quorum was found complete on the headcount.
Regional Average Attendance
Nu
mb
er o
f In
stan
ces
wh
en Q
uo
rum
w
as id
enti
fied
Parliamentary Years
19
7
26
42
65
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
1 2 3 4 5
S1: Assembly Sittings and Attendance
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8 Agriculture
7
9 Energy
12
8 Education
16
6 Security
7
Section 2
Parliamentary Output
Legislation is considered to be the most important parliamentary function. Every penny to be spent by the government and all of its policies needs approval of the
Parliament which is sought in forms of legislative bills. Legislation may be moved by both the government and the private lawmakers.
2.1 Legislation
The 14th Assembly passed 205 legislative bills – 182 government bills and 23 private members' bills – during five years. Of these, 136 have become the act of Parliament after their approval from the Senate and subsequent assent by the President. The previous 13th Assembly had passed 134 bills while its predecessor 12th Assembly passed 51 bills during their five-year terms.
More than half of the 14th Assembly's legislation (110 or 53%) comprised of amendments to the existing laws while remaining 95 were fresh pieces of legislation. The Assembly's legislation mainly focused matters related to economy, judiciary, security, institutional reforms, human rights, elections and education. Below figure shows a thematic distribution of the legislation approved by the outgoing Assembly.
No. of Bills on Themes 52
1 Economy
27
2 Judiciary
26
3 Miscellaneous
18
4 Institutional Reforms
17
5 Human Rights
14
7 Election
5
10 Accountability and Transparency
5
11 Constitutional Amendments
3
7 Health
1
9 Environment
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S2: Parliamentary Output
Economy has been a dominant theme of 14th Assembly's legislation. The Assembly passed 52 bills focusing on taxation, banking, financial security, corporatization, foreign exchange, trade and commerce. This number is more than double of the number of bills passed during the term of previous Assembly on this subject. Economy-related legislation of the outgoing Assembly was entirely sponsored by the government and included amendments to the legal framework governing financial and regulatory institutions such as Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan. Additionally, the House legislated for reforming the legal statues regulating the companies, banks, economic zones and stock exchanges as well as for improving the tariff regimes, anti-money laundering efforts and benami transactions. The House also repealed the legal statues of House Building Finance Corporation, Investment Corporation of Pakistan and Federal Bank for Cooperatives.
Under the theme of security, the House passed 16 bills amending the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Pakistan Army Act 1952, and framing afresh legislative framework for dealing with terrorism-related cases under the Protection of Pakistan Act. Moreover, amendments were introduced in National Counter Terrorism Authority Act 2013, the Foreigners Act 1946, the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2002, the Explosive Substances Act 1908 and the country's criminal laws. Additionally, legislation concerning electronic crimes was also approved during the term of the Assembly.
As many as 27 judiciary-related bills introduced several reforms in the country's legal and judicial system including alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, evening courts, speedy trial, compensation of litigation costs, witness protection, error-free standardized publication of federal laws and other such mechanisms.
'Elections' was another important area that the outgoing Assembly legislated upon. The House passed 14 bills providing for the local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory and Cantonments, amendments in old election laws and consolidation of the eight old laws into a unified election law and salaries of the members of the Election Commission.
The House also approved five constitutional amendments during its tenure related to the security, elections and merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During five years, the House granted charter to eight higher education institutions, approved a bill mandating compulsory teaching of Holy Quran in educational Institutions and provided legal and administrative framework for setting up a National Civic Education Commission.
In the health sector, the House provided legal framework for setting up a Health Research Council and legislated upon transplantation of human organs, and compulsory blood testing of thalassemia patients. Moreover, the Assembly legislated for protection of the rights of women, children, transgendered persons, persons with disabilities and minorities while two bills providing for prevention of human trafficking were also approved.
The House passed 17 bills providing for reforms and changes in the existing administrative frameworks of various institutions and organizations. These 17 bills also included the legislation for the regulation of employment in the National Assembly and Senate Secretariats. It was first time since the adoption of the Constitution that the House legislated upon this subject. Before the enactment of these legislations, the employment in the two parliamentary secretariats was regulated under the rules made by the Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairman of the Senate.
Moreover, the House passed bills on Right to Information, protection of whistle-blowers and setting up commissions of
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inquiry to probe into important national issues. Other areas of legislation included environment, agriculture and governance. Refer to annexure XX for a complete list of bills passed during the term of 14th Assembly.
The previous Assembly had set a welcome tradition of passing 19 private members' bills during its five years. Keeping the tradition alive, the outgoing Assembly also passed 23 (10%) of 237 private members' bills introduced in the House. Still, a number of private lawmakers' legislative proposals remained stuck in the parliamentary committees till the end of the Assembly's term. A majority of the private members' legislation (134 or 56%) was initiated by the women lawmakers. On the other hand, male members elected on the general seats introduced 82 bills and minority lawmakers 21 bills. Among the parliamentary parties, MQM lawmakers were most keen towards the legislation as they introduced 75 bills during five years, more than any other party. Despite a very well numerical majority, the private lawmakers of PML-N sponsored only 53 bills. Of other major parties, PPPP lawmakers introduced 33 bills and PTI 26. Moreover, lawmakers from two or more parties collaborated in sponsoring nine private members' bills. Below figure shows the party-wise numbers of bills introduced in the House during the reporting period.
Party Affiliations of Legislation Sponsors
PML-N PPPP JUI-F JIPTIMQM QWP-S Joint
75 53 33 26 26 14 1 9Seat Type of Legislation Sponsors
Seat Type No of Bills
Elected 82
Minority 21
Reserved for Women 134
Total 237
S2: Parliamentary Output
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S2: Parliamentary Output
2.2 Resolutions
Through resolutions, the house expresses its opinion, makes recommendations, or conveys a message on a definite and important issue.
Lawmakers moved 464 resolutions highlighting various local, national and international issues during five years of the 14th Assembly. The House adopted 209 of these resolutions and rejected four private lawmakers' resolutions while no vote took place on the remaining 251 resolutions. Of these unaddressed resolutions, 232 were never read out in the House, 11 were dropped due to the absence of movers, four were kept pending, three were debated without a vote and one was referred to the committee. Out of 209 adopted resolutions, 44 were government resolutions, 87 private members' resolutions and 78 jointly sponsored by ministers and private lawmakers belonging to two or more parties.
The lawmakers expressed their opinions on issues concerning health, education, human rights, energy crisis, foreign affairs, terrorism, economy, governance, democracy and politics. Moreover, 25 of these resolutions were passed to extend the life of presidential ordinances promulgated without the approval of the Parliament. Taking cognizance of the country's energy crisis, the House adopted 10 resolutions expressing its concerns on electricity load-shedding in the country and recommending the government to find solutions for the issue by constructing dams and investing in exploration of new energy reservoirs. Moreover, the House adopted nine resolutions on educational matters urging the government to establish new universities in various parts of the country and improve existing educational facilities.
In five resolutions, the lawmakers urged the government to take steps towards improving the performance of state institutions like Pakistan Television, Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. In 27 terrorism-related resolutions, the lawmakers expressed their sentiments on various incidents of terrorism in the country and suggested different means to the government to deal with this menace. Moreover, 44 resolutions on foreign policy matters depicted the thoughts of the House on Pakistan's relations with India, the United States, and the Muslim countries as well as the performance of the Pakistan Foreign Office and the country's involvement in the war on terror.
The House adopted 13 resolutions related to human rights, including the rights of women, minorities and children. Furthermore, the House adopted 13 resolutions on religious affairs, 10 on democracy and election-related matters, nine on health issues, five on increasing rate of inflation and petroleum prices and 19 on various governance-related issues. In two resolutions, the House recommended the government to reduce indirect taxation on citizens. The House also adopted eight resolutions offering its condolences on the demise of several national and international figures and victims of natural calamities while three resolutions commended the efforts of Benazir Bhutto, Malala Yousfazai and Street Footballers of Lyari for the nation.
Once adopted by the House, a resolution is communicated to the concerned government department for follow-up actions. The concerned department is bound, under the Assembly Rules of Procedure, to apprise the House about the action taken on the resolution within a period of six months from the date of communication by the Assembly Secretariat. However, no such reports were presented before the House during its formal proceedings, therefore, the fate of the Assembly's resolutions remains unknown.
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S2: Parliamentary Output
As many as 199 out of 342 lawmakers – 139 men and 60 women – sponsored the resolutions. Below figure shows gender-wise numbers of lawmakers who moved resolutions individually or in collaboration with their colleagues.
Political Party
Male
Female
Overall
AJIP
1
1
AMLP
1
1
ANP 1
1
APML 1
1
BNP 1
1
IND 7
7
JI 3 1 4
JUI 9 4 13 MQM 22 5 27 NP 1
1
NPP 1
1 PKMAP 3 1 4 PML 1
1
PML-F 1 1 2 PML-N 50 31 81 PML-Z 1
1
PPPP 9 11 20 PTI
25
6
31
QWP
1
1
Overall
139
60
199
2.3 Amendments to the Rules of Procedure
The Assembly's proceedings are governed under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business which are subject to continuous evolution through amendments with the approval of the majority of the House. During the term of 14th Assembly, 53 lawmakers proposed 88 amendments to the rules, of which 19 were adopted and made part of the National Assembly Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, 2007. Of the remaining 69, as many as 33 did not proceed beyond the committee stage, 17 were defeated through a vote, 14 appeared on the Orders of the Day but were never read in the House, three were dropped due to the absence of relevant lawmakers while two were kept pending.
A PML-N-sponsored package of amendments at three places in the Rules of Procedure necessitated the recitation of Naat before the commencement of formal proceedings of House sittings. In a treasury-sponsored amendment, the
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S2: Parliamentary Output
House approved the inclusion of six Senate members in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In another amendment, the House bound the government ministries to report their concerned standing committees on inclusion of committee recommendations in their development-related budgetary proposals. Other government-backed amendments provided for constitution of sub-committees by the Standing Committees of the House as well as for the changes in the process of giving notice for questions. An amendment sponsored by MQM lawmaker changed the quorum of a standing committee meeting from four members to one-fourth of the committee membership. Other amendments were of the inconsequential nature and introduced minor changes in the rules like replacing the name of the ministries after bifurcation of the portfolios.
Nearly a quarter (23) of 88 proposed amendments were sponsored by PML-N lawmakers including eight amendments proposed by the government. Moreover, MQM lawmakers suggested 21 amendments, both PPPP and JUI-F 12 each, and both JI and PTI two each while 16 amendments were jointly moved by private lawmakers belonging to two or more parties.
As many as 21 out of 53 lawmakers who sponsored amendments belonged to MQM, 11 to JUI-F, eight to PPPP, six to PML-N, five to PTI and one each to JI and independent group.
Section 3
Representation and Parliamentary Oversight of the Executive
13
The oversight of the executive and representation of public issues and aspirations is among the core functions of the Parliament besides lawmaking. It is carried out through seeking information from the
government through questions and Calling Attention Notices and discussing the matters of public importance on Adjournment Motions and Motions under Rule 259 of the Rules of Procedure.
3.1 Calling Attention Notices
Lawmakers use Calling Attention Notices for drawing the government's attention to a matter of public interest. According to Rule 88 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business 2007, members can draw the attention of a minister towards any matter of urgent public importance through a CAN submitted at least one day before it is to be taken up.
Lawmakers submitted 533 CANs during five years of the 14th Assembly, of which 424 (80%) came under consideration during the House proceedings. Of remaining 109 notices, 96 were never read out, eight were dropped due to the absence of the movers, four were kept pending and one was withdrawn by the mover. These notices were addressed to 37 government ministries and departments. Refer to Annexure C for the list of ministries addressed in the CANs.
Lawmakers belonging to PML-N submitted 187 CANs and were followed by lawmakers of PPPP, MQM and PTI who submitted 87, 60 and 55 CANs, respectively. As many as 34 CANs were jointly moved by the lawmakers belonging to two or more parties. Out of 342, 228 lawmakers, including 64 women and 164 men, highlighted the public importance issues through CANs. Below figure shows the party-wise and gender-wise number of lawmakers who submitted notices during the 14th National Assembly's term.
Party Male Members Female Members Overall
AJIP 1 1
AMLP 1 1
ANP 2 2
APML 1 1
BNP 1 1
IND 10 10
JI 3 1 4
JUI 5 4 9
MQM 21 5 26
14
Section 3: Representation and Parliamentary Oversight of the Executive
NP 1 1
NPP 1 1
PKMAP 2 1 3
PML-N 66 34 100
PPPP 22 12 34
PTI 27 6 33
QWP 1 1
Overall 164 64 228
Party Male Members Female Members Overall
3.2 Questions
A total of 13,912 questions – 8,718 starred and 5,194 unstarred – were asked from 44 ministries and departments of the government during the five parliamentary years.
Year Starred Unstarred Grand Total
1st Parliamentary Year 1890 2084 3974
2nd Parliamentary Year 1681 980 2661
3rd Parliamentary Year 1987 1021 3008
4th Parliamentary Year 1839 541 2380 5th Parliamentary Year 1321 568 1889 Grand Total 8718 5194 13912
The number of questions steadily dropped over the period of five years from 3974 questions in first year to 1889 questions in fifth year. Lawmakers focused more on the ministries of Interior & Narcotics Control, Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics & Privatization, Water & Power and Petroleum & Natural Resources than other ministries as more than 1000 questions were addressed to each of these ministries. Annexure D shows a ministry-wise number of starred and unstarred questions asked by the lawmakers.
The government replied to 10,926 (79%) out of 13,912 questions while 2,977 (21%) remained unaddressed during the term of the Assembly. As many as three questions were withdrawn by the concerned lawmakers. Moreover, the Speaker disallowed a JI lawmaker's question asked from the Ministry of Energy about the Tharparkar electricity project.
Nearly 57% or 194 out of 342 lawmakers belonging to 16 parliamentary parties exercised their right to seek information from the government through questions during the term of 14th Assembly. This number includes 56 women and 138 men lawmakers. Women lawmakers asked 7,909 (57%) questions and men 6,003 (43%) questions.
Among major parliamentary parties, PML-N lawmaker asked 3,886 (28) questions, PPPP 2,967 (21%), MQM 2,250
15
(16%) and PTI 2,184 (16%) questions. Nearly 46% or 83 out of 182 of PML-N lawmakers asked questions from the government during five years. This percentage of lawmakers was higher among main opposition parties (PPPP, MQM and PTI). Around 94% (30 out of 32) PTI lawmakers, 88% (21 out of 24) MQM lawmakers and 67% (31 out of 46) PPPP lawmakers' submitted questions to the government. Gender-wise analysis of the questions shows that 81% (57 out of 69) women lawmakers exercised their right to ask questions as compared to 50% (138 out of 273) men lawmakers.
3.3 Motions under Rule 259
Under Rule 259, any minister or member may give a motion that any policy, situation, statement or any other matter maybe taken into consideration. Lawmakers moved 329 motions under Rule 259 during the term of 14th Assembly highlighting various issues of public importance. The House took up nearly 14% or 45 of these motions for discussion during the proceedings. The government moved 26 out of 329 motions and all of these except one were discussed in the House. On the other hand, out of 303 motions sponsored by private lawmakers, only 20 came under discussion. The private lawmakers of PML-N sponsored 112 motions, PPPP lawmakers 62 motions, JI lawmakers 40 motions, PTI lawmakers 36 motions, MQM lawmakers 31 motions, JUI-F lawmakers 20 motions and independent lawmakers two motions.
As many as 74 lawmakers – 43 men and 31 women – sponsored these Motions under Rule 259. This number includes 27 lawmakers of PML-N, 16 of PPPP, 14 of MQM, nine of PTI, four of JI, three of JUI-F and an independent.
Political Party Male Member Female Member Overall
IND 1
1 JI 3 1 4 JUI
3 3
MQM 11 3 14 PML-N 14 13 27 PPPP 8 8 16 PTI 6 3 9 Overall 43 31 74
Section 3: Representation and Parliamentary Oversight of the Executive
Annex A: List of Top Performers
16
Annex A: List of Top Performers
17
Annex A: List of Top Performers
18
19
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
20
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
21
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
22
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
23
Annex B: Parliamentary Output
24
Annex C: Ministry-wise Questions
25
Annex C: Ministry-wise Questions
26
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