PILDAT Performance Analysis of the Provincial Assemblies in 3rd Parliamentary Year (2015-2016):

performance of the four Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan in the third Parliamentary

year (2015-2016), the Sindh Assembly has received the highest score at 68%,

followed closely by the Punjab and KP Assemblies at 66%. Balochistan Assembly

of Provincial Assemblies 2015-2016

of representation in 2015-2016 with a high score of 88%. Citizens

can only be adequately represented in the Provincial Assembly if their Members

(MPAs) regularly attend the proceedings. Even though it is still not optimal,

the Assemblies with the highest attendance at 34% of the membership being present

on average were the Balochistan and Sindh Assemblies. The Punjab Assembly performed

Former Chief Minister of Balochistan (PB-48, Balochistan, NP) and Nawab Sanaullah

Zehri, Current Chief Minister (PB-33, Balochistan, PML-N) was 59% of the total

sittings in 2015-2016. A close second was the attendance of the Honourable Chief

Minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, MPA, (PS-29, Sindh, PPPP) at 51% of the

total sittings in Sindh Assembly. The Honourable Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Mr. Pervaiz Khattak, MPA (PK-13, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, PTI) attended 29% of the

sittings of the KP Assembly in 3rd year. The lowest attendance in 2015-2016

was of the Honourable Chief Minister of the Punjab, Mr. Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif,

MPA (PP-159, Punjab, PML-N), who only joined 5% sittings of the Provincial Assembly

in Respective Assemblies 2015-2016

Assembly demonstrated the lowest attendance, the Opposition Leader, Mian Mehmood

ur Rashid, MPA (PP-151, Punjab, PTI) attended 85% of the sittings in 2015-2016,

the highest figure for any leader of the opposition in the provincial assemblies.

Khawaja Izharul Hassan, MPA (PS-99, Sindh, MQM), Opposition Leader from Sindh

Assembly was present for 73% of sittings; Maulana Abdul Wasay, MPA (PB-20, Balochistan,

JUI-F), Balochistan Assembly Opposition Leader attended 61% of sittings, and

Maulana Lutf ur Rehman, MPA (PK-66, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, JUI-F), KP Assembly

in Respective Assemblies 2015-2016

with regards to legislation with a score of 70%. The Assembly

saw an active membership that introduced the highest number of Private Members’

Bills at 9. Private Members’ Bills are important indicators of the performance

as they reflect the usage of the provision given to legislators to make laws

in addition to those made by the Executive. The remaining 3 Provincial Assemblies

lagged behind with only 1 Private Members’ Bill introduced by the Punjab

and KP Assemblies each. No Private Members’ Bill was introduced in the

Balochistan Assembly in 2015-2016. Meanwhile, the Punjab Assembly passed 46

laws in its third year (2015-2016), the Sindh Assembly passed 28 bills, the

Balochistan Assembly passed 23 bills while the KP Assembly passed the lowest

best performance with regards to the Oversight of the Executive

in 2015-2016 with a score of 84%. Even though the budget process in Assemblies

remains very weak in general, Punjab Assembly spent 13 sittings (42 hours) discussing

the Provincial Budget 2015-2016. In comparison the Sindh Assembly’s budget

session lasted 10 sittings (39 hours); Balochistan Assembly’s session

lasted 6 sittings, and KP Assembly passed the annual budget in only 5 sittings.

The Punjab Assembly is also to be commended for being one of the two Assemblies,

alongside the Sindh Assembly, that has mandated in the Rules of Procedure a

pre-budget debate to increase the powers of the legislators in the development

of the annual budget. In terms of oversight of finances, however, the Sindh

Assembly surpasses Punjab by being the only Assembly to review the implementation

of the budget on a quarterly basis. The Executive in Sindh submits a Quarterly

Report of the Budget to Sindh Assembly, which is then discussed by legislators.

across the 4 Provincial legislatures to strengthen the Budget process before

its passage. With limited time available to scrutinize the Provincial Budgets

and no adequate powers with Standing Committees to undertake in-depth reviews

of the Provincial Budgets, year after year, Budget Sessions see mere endorsements

of the Executive’s budget by the Provincial Legislatures. PILDAT has been

making recommendations to strengthen the Budget process in the Parliament and

Provincial Assemblies of Pakistan, which include increasing the duration of

the Budget process to at least 30 – 45 days and changes in the Rules of

Procedure of the Provincial Assemblies to allow Standing Committees both power

of sittings at 75 with the most amount of time spent in the House at 193 hours.

In comparison, the Sindh Assembly met for a total of 182 hours over 59 sittings,

and the KP Assembly met for 126 hours over 51 sittings. The worst in this regard

was once again the Balochistan Assembly with 95 hours over the course of 46

sittings under its belt. In terms of time spent in the House, Sindh Assembly

members spent 3.1 hours on average per sitting, followed by Punjab Assembly

at 2.6 hours per sitting, KP Assembly at 2.5 hours per sitting, and lastly Balochistan

avenue of oversight of the executive and are considered the eyes and ears of

each legislature show a dismal trend of activity across 4 Provincial Legislatures.

Even the highest number of average meetings per Standing Committee is 2.4, which

is in the Sindh Assembly. In KP, Committees held an average 2.1 meetings per

Standing Committee and 1.4 meetings per Standing Committee were held in the

Punjab Assembly during the third year. PILDAT did not receive the requested

data for the Balochistan Assembly in this regard. However, it is worth remembering

that Balochistan Assembly lagged behind even in activating its Standing Committees

while even at the close of the third year, 2 Standing Committees (Local Government,

and Public Health Engineering) are still without Chairpersons and thereby not

functional. There is a crucial need of reforms in enhancing the powers and capabilities

of Standing Committees. In most legislatures, with the exception of the KP Assembly,

Committees can only meet after a subject has been referred to them by the House

and do not have suo moto powers, allowing Committees to take up any

amendment to the Rules of Procedure in 2015-2016 that makes it mandatory to

hold election of Standing Committees within 90 days after the election of the

Leader of the House. A similar rule needs to be introduced in the Rules of Procedure

of all the Provincial Assemblies so that the inordinate delay can be avoided. 

Additionally, the Punjab Assembly also amended Rules adding a Zero Hour to take

up matters of urgent public importance relating to the Government and requiring

Provincial legislatures in Transparency and Accountability with

equal scores of 90%. Punjab’s most important initiative came with its

practice of uploading the individual attendance of MPAs online on its official

website. The Punjab Assembly became the first of all National and Provincial

legislatures in Pakistan to make this move. However, PILDAT notes with concern

that the attendance of a number of MPAs is excluded from the uploaded attendance:

including that of the Leader of the House, the Opposition Leader, Ministers,

Parliamentary Secretaries, Advisor to the Chief Minister, and Special Assistants

to the Chief Minister. All in all the attendance of 66 of the 368 MPAs is not

uploaded. In comparison the Senate and the National Assembly upload the attendance

of all the members regardless of whether they are Ministers or Parliamentary

Secretaries. PILDAT recommends that the Assembly Secretariat upload the attendance

of ALL MPAs as well as attendance within Committee meetings as is undertaken

Assembly has, as of yet, begun making available members’ attendance on

and update key performance statistics on their websites and are prompt in updating

them. The KP Assembly uploads detailed business transacted by each of the 123

MPAs on the official website. The KP Assembly must also be commended for a landmark

achievement to transact all business of the House on computers. Computers have

now been installed on the desk of every MPA. All business being transacted from

Executive goes through the Secretariat and is immediately accessible to MPAs

who simply have to click on the relevant folders to immediately access information

on questions, answers, motions, bills and proposed amendments amongst others. 

Sindh Assemblies lag far behind those of the Punjab and KP Assemblies. Not only

do they not have detailed performance statistics but they also do not upload

basic information such as lists of adjournment motions, Calling Attention Notices,

questions, etc. Sindh Assembly is only marginally better than Balochistan Assembly

Provincial Assemblies with regards to allocation of the budget. In 2015-2016,

the KP Assembly was the most cost-efficient at spending Rs. 6.3 million for

every working hour, Punjab Assembly spent approximately Rs. 6.8 million per

working hour, Sindh Assembly spent about Rs. 8.1 million per hour, and Balochistan

PILDAT scored the performance of the four Provincial Assemblies in the third