• Balochistan CM attended most sittings
• KP legislature passed the most bills
• Sindh Assembly held the most sittings

ISLAMABAD: A comparative analysis of the performance of the four provincial assemblies for the period 2018-2023, in terms of status of transparency and access to information, has placed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa legislature at the top while the Sindh Assembly has been ranked at the bottom.

Moreover, the Balochistan chief minister attended the highest percentage (31 per cent) of assembly sittings.

The report has been compiled by the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (Pildat).

While the provincial assemblies of Punjab and KP were dissolved prematurely on Jan­uary 14 and Jan 18, 2023 respectively, the Sindh Assembly was dissolved just before conclusion of its term on August 11, 2023, leaving only the Balochistan PA to complete its five-year term until Aug 12, 2023.

In terms of status of transparency and access to information, the KP Assembly outranked all other assemblies with a score of 8.5 out of 11.

“This (KP) is the only assembly which is providing live telecast of assembly proceedings. Punjab Assembly was the first to have introduced live webcast of assembly proceedings in 2002 but it chose to suspend this in 2021 and has never revived the practice since. However, out of four provincial assemblies, only the Punjab Assembly has provided complete attendance records of MPAs on its website. The Punjab Assembly has been ranked second with a score of 7 out of 11 when compared with other assemblies. Balochistan Assembly ranked third by securing 6.5 score out of 11 while the Sindh Assembly is providing the least information on its website and ranked at last number with 5.5 score,” it stated.

However, Sindh Assembly convened 326 sittings with an average of 65 sittings per year. Punjab Assembly met for 274 days with an average of 62 sittings per year. KP Assembly held 248 sittings with an average of 56 sittings per year. Lowest number of sittings, 241, with an average of 48 sittings per year, was convened by the Balochistan PA.

Sindh Assembly was convened for most working hours (921). Balochistan Assembly was convened for 581 hours and 18 minutes. The KP Assembly met for 574 hours and 27. Punjab Assembly was convened for 530 hours and 47 minutes.

Balochistan Assembly outperformed in terms of attendance of CM who have attended highest percentage (31pc) of sittings.

CM Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah attended 26pc sittings of the Sindh Assembly. CM Punjab attended only 14pc sittings. It was also a combined attendance of three CMs. Sardar Usman Ahmed Khan Buzdar resigned as CM on March 28, 2022 and attended only 10pc sittings during his tenure of three years and seven months. Muhammad Hamza Shehbaz Sharif was elected CM on April 16, 2022 and attended 57pc sittings during his tenure of three-and-a-half months as CM. He was then replaced by Parvez Elahi on July 26, 2022 who attended 23pc sittings during his tenure of five-and-a-half months. The lowest attendance of any of the four CMs was by KP’s Mahmood Khan, who attended only 8pc sittings during his tenure.

Balochistan Assembly topped where attendance of leader of the opposition was concerned, as Malik Sikandar Khan attended 63pc sittings. He was followed by leaders of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly who attended 56pc sittings. Akram Khan Durrani, leader of the opposition in KP Assembly, attended 38pc sittings. The lowest attendance was witnessed by leaders of the opposition in Punjab Assembly, who attended only 12pc sittings.

Even though KP Assembly was dissolved seven months earlier than its actual term, during its tenure it passed 188 bills with an average of 43 bills passed per year. This is followed by Punjab Assembly which passed 180 bills with an average of 41 bills per year. Sindh Assembly passed 149 bills with an average of 30 bills per year and Balochistan Assembly could pass only 96 bills with an average of 19 bills per year.

Published in Dawn, September 22th, 2023