68.14% Agenda Items Left Over in 40th Session of 15th National Assembly

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  1. 4 out of 9 sittings adjourned due to lack of quorum (which means less than 25% members present) though on average 224 or 65.50% MNAs marked attendance in the session
  2. Prime Minister attended only one out of 9 sittings; Leader of the Opposition attended 4 sittings
  3. In 9 sittings held during 40th session, National Assembly met for a total of 23 hours and 38 minutes with an average time of 2 hour and 37 minutes per sitting; Longest sitting lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes and shortest sitting lasted only 16 minutes
  4. All 9 sittings started with average delay of 38 minutes per sitting
  5. 4 Ordinances were laid and 4 Ordinances were extended during 40th session
  6. Sixteen (16) Bills were passed in a single sitting including highly contentious the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2022 and the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2022 amidst protest by the Opposition

Working Hours

The 15th National Assembly met for 23 hours and 38 minutes in 40th Session with an average time of 2 hours and 37 minutes per sitting. All 9 sittings started late on an average of 38 minutes per sitting.

The 40th session of the National Assembly began on Monday, January 10 at the start of the working week, but the House was called to meet at 4 pm, towards the end of normal working day. The first sitting, however, could only begin with a delay of 1 hour and 35 minutes and lasted only for 2 hours and 43 minutes before it was adjourned. The next sitting held on Tuesday, January 11 was again called at 4 pm and started with a delay of 27 minutes and lasted for 4 hours and 15 minutes. The sitting held on Wednesday, January 12 was called at 11 am though it started with a delay of 29 minutes and lasted for 5 hours and 3 minutes. The sitting held on Thursday, January 13 was again called towards the end of normal working day at 4 pm and started with a delay of 50 minutes and lasted 6 hours and 40 minutes as the longest sitting of the session. On Friday, January 14, the house was called to meet at 11 am though it started with a delay of 39 minutes and lasted for 56 minutes only. No sitting was held over the Saturday and Sunday weekend. On Monday, January 17, the House was called to convene at 4pm, towards the end of normal working day and started after a delay of 14 minutes though it was adjourned only after 16 minutes. The next sitting was called on Tuesday, January 18, again at 4pm and started after a delay of 36 minutes and lasted for 1 hour and 47 minutes. On Wednesday, January 19, the House was called to meet at 4 pm though the sitting started with a delay of 53 minutes and lasted only for 16 minutes. No sitting was held on Thursday, January 20. The next sitting was called at 10:30 am on Friday, January 21 and started with a delay of 2 minutes and the session was prorogued after a sitting of 1 hour and 42 minutes.

Agenda Items Left Over

68.14% agenda items on average were left over in 9 sittings held during 40th session. 48 agenda items were left over out of 49 in the sitting held on January 10. In the sitting held on January 11, 19 agenda items were left over out of 55. On January 12, only three agenda items were taken up and 20 agenda items were left over when quorum was pointed out and the house was adjourned for not being in order. On January 13, 13 agenda items were left over out of 64. In the sitting held on January 14, only 32 agenda items were taken up out of 174 agenda items. On January 17, only two agenda items were taken up out of 17 agenda item when quorum was pointed out and the house was adjourned for not being in order. On January 18, 131 agenda items were left over out of 172 agenda items when quorum was pointed out and the house was adjourned for not being in order. In the sitting held on January 19, only one agenda item was taken up out of 23 agenda items when quorum was pointed out and the house was adjourned for not being in order. In the last sitting held on January 21, 7 agenda items were left over out of 22 when the session was prorogued.

Quorum Pointed Out

In 5 (55.55%) out of 9 sittings of the National Assembly during 40th session, quorum was pointed out and 4 (44.44%) sittings were adjourned though on average 224 (65.50%) MNAs marked attendance in the session. Quorum was pointed out 7 times throughout the session. On January 12, quorum was pointed out 3 times. First time quorum was pointed out at 1.04 pm and the proceedings were suspended due to non-availability of required number of MNAs in the session. The proceedings began at 2.02 pm. Quorum was again pointed out at 3.10 pm and the House was in order. Quorum was pointed out again at 5.22 pm for the third time and proceedings were adjourned as required number of MNAs were not present in the House. It must be noted that 280 MNAs had marked their attendance on January 12. The sitting held on January 17 was also adjourned due to lack of quorum where 106 MNAs were recorded as present. Similarly the sitting held on January 18 was adjourned due to lack of quorum where 163 MNAs were recorded as present. Sitting held on January 19 was also adjourned due to lack of quorum where 162 MNAs were recorded as present.

Attendance

Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Imran Khan, MNA, attended only one sitting held on January 13 out of the 9 sittings of the National Assembly held during the 40th session. Leader of the Opposition, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA, attended only 4 sittings held on January 10, January 11, January 12 and January 13. On the average, 224 or 65.50% MNAs marked their attendance during the 40th session.

Most Vocal MNAs

Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, MNA (NA-200 Larkana-I, Sindh, PPPP) was the most vocal MNA during the 40th session with a recorded talk time of 1 hour 32 minutes and 35 seconds. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA (NA-132 Lahore-X, Punjab, PML-N) spoke for 1 hour 13 minutes and 15 seconds during the session, followed by Mr. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, MNA (NA-78 Narowal-II, Punjab, PML-N) who spoke for 1 hour 4 minutes and 5 seconds. Mr. Abdul Qadir Patel, MNA (NA-248 Karachi West-I, Sindh, PPPP) spoke for 34 minutes and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, MNA (NA-73 Sialkot-II, Punjab, PML-N) spoke for 31.25 minutes.

Legislation

16 bills were passed by the National Assembly in a single sitting held on January 13 including the highly contentious State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which the opposition termed as a surrender to IMF with far greater implications for Pakistan than the surrender in Dhaka on December 16, 1971. The treasury benches also managed to pass the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2022 amidst protest from the opposition which protested that the bill would further fuel already high inflation in Pakistan. The opposition MNAs have continued to demand that the Speaker should re-do voting tally though the Speaker has continued to refuse to hold vote count by standing in seats. Bills passed included the following:

  1. The National Metrology Institute of Pakistan Bill, 2021
  2. The Protection of Parents Bill, 2021
  3. The Post Office National Savings Certificates (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  4. The Government Savings Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  5. The Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Bill, 2022)
  6. The National Information Technology Board Bill, 2022
  7. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2021
  8. The Pak University of Engineering and Emerging Technology University Bill, 2022
  9. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Section 2,8,9 and 43B)
  10. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Section 8)
  11. The Pakistan Nursing Council (Amendment) Bill, 2022
  12. The Allied Health Professionals Council Bill, 2022
  13. The Islamabad healthcare Facilities Management Authority Bill, 2022
  14. The Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022
  15. The Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2022
  16. The State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill, 2022

Four (4) ordinances were extended further for a period of 120 days during the session including two (2) extended on Thursday, January 13 and two (2) extended on Friday, January 21. These included:

  1. The National Accountability (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 (No. XXIII of 2021)
  2. The National Accountability (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, (No. XXVI of 2021)
  3. The National Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Oath and Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021
  4. The National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority Ordinance, 2021, (No. XXV of 2021)

6 bills each from Government and Private Members were introduced during the session. Four (4) Ordinances laid in the House during the session, three (3) of which were laid on Tuesday, January 11 while 1 ordinance was laid on Thursday, January 13. These included:

  1. The Diplomatic and Consular Officers (Oath and Fees) (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021
  2. The National Rahmatul-Lil-Aalameen Authority Ordinance, 2021
  3. The Pakistan Nursing Council (Emergency Management) Ordinance, 2021
  4. The Islamabad Capital Territory Local Government Ordinance 2021, (Ordinance No. XXVIII of 2021)