ISLAMABAD: The performance of all provincial assembles in fourth parliamentary year declined in terms of working hours, days consumed in budget session and attendance of leaders of the opposition compared to third parliamentary year.

However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly showed better performance compared to other assemblies.

Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh topped in terms of attendance.

These are the findings of a report titled ‘Comparative Analysis of Provincial Assemblies for 4th Parliamentary Year’ released by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT).

Even though the KP assembly was only convened for 60 days during the fourth parliamentary year, it has worked for more days than other provincial assemblies.

KP Assembly fared better during year under review

Balochistan Assembly met for 53 days, Punjab Assembly held only 42 and Sindh Assembly held 41 sittings during fourth parliamentary year.

Even though the number of working hours each Assembly meets for in a year is very low overall, in comparative analysis KP Assembly was convened for most working hours at 126.05 hours during fourth year. The Provincial Assembly of Sindh has met for 111.51 working hours during the year.

The Balochistan Assembly spent a total of 91.10 working hours in sittings during the fourth parliamentary year. In terms of total working hours, the Punjab Assembly ranks fourth for spending only 76.31 hours in sittings.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh ranked first in terms of attendance as he attended 51.22pc sittings of the Sindh Assembly during fourth parliamentary year, followed by Leader of the Opposition in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan, Malik Sikandar Khan, MPA who attended 50.94pc sittings of the Balochistan Assembly. Mr Akram Khan Durrani Leader of the Opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly attended 18pc sittings of the assembly and lowest attendance during the fourth year was of the Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly which stood at 10pc.

Compared to other provincial assemblies, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has passed 60 laws which was the highest the during fourth year. This is followed by Provincial Assembly of the Punjab which has passed 35 bills, Sindh Assembly passed 28 bills and Balochistan Assembly passed 27 bills.

Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the only assembly that recorded improved legislative activity during the fourth year and shows 45pc increase in bills passed compared to third year when 33 bills were passed by the Assembly.

In the fourth parliamentary year, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly spent eight days in budget session, down from nine days spent in three years while Sindh Assembly spent seven days in its budget session during the fourth parliamentary year, compared to eight days of budget session in parliamentary year three. Similarly, Balochistan Assembly has spent only seven days during budget sessions during third and fourth year. In fourth parliamentary year, Punjab Assembly shows a 50pc decline in days spent in budget sessions from 12 days to six days as compared to the third year.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2022