Overview of 318th Session of the Senate

During 318th session, the Senate passed 9 bills including the Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the National Accountability (2 nd Amendment) Bill, 2022. Despite protest by the opposition benches, both the bills were passed without being referred to relevant standing committees. 

The other bills passed included the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment )Bill, 2022, the Registration (Amendment) Bill, 2022, the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022 (Omission of section 325 of PPC and subsequent amendment in Schedule II of CRC.PC.), the International Institute of Science, Arts and Technology Bill, 2022, the Smart Institute of Sciences and Technology Bill, 2022, the National Rahmatul-Lil Aalameen Wa Khatamun Nabiyyin Authority Bill, 2022 and the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

No government bill was introduced during the session while 23 Private Members bills were introduced.

The Senate also gave its recommendations on the Finance Bill 2022 amidst protest from the opposition that stated that this budget would further fuel already high inflation in Pakistan.

No Ordinance was extended during the session while two (2) ordinances were laid on May 24. These included the Elections (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022 (Ordinance No. I of 2022) which was promulgated on February 21, 2022 by the outgoing PTI government and removed the bar on elected legislators including member holding any other office under the Constitution or any other law from visiting or addressing public meetings in constituencies during election campaign. However, it was laid in the National Assembly on May 23, 2022 by Mr. Murtaza Javed Abbasi, MNA and Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, supporting the amendment in the Elections Act, 2017 based on ‘persistent demand of elected representatives as well as overwhelming number of voters.’

Another ordinance laid was the General Statistics (Re-Organization) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2022. (Ordinance No. III of 2022).