Zubair Qureshi
Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development & Transparency’s (PILDAT) comparative assessment of performance of Pakistan’s four provincial assemblies shows that KP Assembly has outranked other provincial assemblies in passage of most legislation at the end of 2nd parliamentary year.
KP Assembly has passed 59 laws in second year, followed by Provincial Assembly of the Punjab which passed 41 laws.
Provincial Assembly of Sindh has passed 24 laws while Provincial Assembly of Balochistan lags behind the other three by having passed only 8 laws during second year. Comparative analysis on passage of laws as seen in each Provincial Assembly shows that except Balochistan Assembly, which has passed fewer bills than first year, there is an increase in legislative activity across other 3 Assemblies.
When looking at total number of laws passed by each Assembly during the two parliamentary years that concluded in August 2020, KP Assembly also leads ahead of other Assemblies by 89 total laws passed in two years; followed by Punjab Assembly that has passed a total of 58 laws in two years. Sindh Assembly has passed a total of 36 laws while Balochistan Assembly has only passed 19 laws in total in two parliamentary years. Comparative analysis on legislative activity contrasts sharply with budget allocation to each Assembly per member during the year. Balochistan, which has passed the lowest number of laws in two years has the highest budget allocation per member at about Rs23.1 million. Sindh Assembly budget allocation per member stands at about Rs13.6 million. KP Assembly budget allocation per member is a little under Rs9.4 million, while Punjab Assembly budget allocation per member stands at about Rs5.1 million.
Compared to the first parliamentary year, each provincial assembly has held fewer sittings during the second year compared to the first year, presumably because of coronavirus pandemic. Sindh Assembly leads in the second year by holding maximum number, 68 sittings, compared to other Provincial Assemblies. Its sittings, however, have decreased by 25%. It is followed closely by Punjab Assembly that has met for 67 days during the second year, with a decrease of 13% in sittings from first year. KP Assembly ranks third by holding 52 sittings, with a decrease of 15% from first year. Balochistan Assembly has met for only 33 days during the second year, with a decrease of 35% from sittings in first year. Attendance of each Chief Minister in each Assembly has declined considerably during second year.
Chief Minister Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan, leads others by attending 33% sittings of Balochistan Assembly. His attendance has decreased by 28 percentage points from 61% in first year. Chief Minister Sindh, Murad Ali Shah, has attended 31% sittings of Sindh Assembly with a decline of 10 percentage points from his attendance in Assembly in first year.
