2022 by-elections cost over Rs1.59b, Senate told

The Senate chairman has assured the senators that he will ensure the presence of ministers during the sessions of the upper house of parliament amid protests against their absence.

Tuesday was the second day in a row that the senators were protesting against the absence on Ministers during the sessions.

Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani presided over the Senate session.

On the absence of ministers, Senator Mushtaq from the opposition told the chairman that his ruling and letter also did not work as the ministers did not come to the house. On this, the chairman said that he will talk again with the ministers.

The details of expenses incurred on the by-elections of the national and provincial assemblies during 2022 were presented in the Senate.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs officials informed the house that 13 by-elections of the National Assembly and 24 by-elections of the provincial assemblies were held in 2022.

A total of more than Rs1.59 billion was incurred on the by-elections.

According to the report, more than Rs524.5 million expenses were incurred on the by-elections of the provincial assemblies while over Rs535.3 million came on those of the National Assembly.

During the Question Hour session, State Minister Shahadat Awan said, “The marketing companies are importing liquefied petroleum gas as per the LPG Policy 2016.”

Awan said, “The LPG prices are linked to the international Saudi Aramco in dollars.”

On the issue of corruption, he said, “Don't talk about it happening in the country. There are institutions to prevent corruption and if anyone has a complaint, contact the institutions.”

Further, the house approved the Pakistan Council for Research on Water Resources Amendment Bill 2023. The bill was presented by Awan.

On Senator Mohsin Aziz's attention notice, Education Minister Rana Tanveer said that a notice was taken on an objectionable article in the O-Level Sociology book and the same was being issued to the Cambridge University, as “such immoral content will not work with us”.

The standing committee presented the amendment bill relating to the printing of the holy Quran without errors.

The reports of several other committees were also presented, including the one of the relevant committee on the bill related to human rights and the protection of transgender persons.

The session was adjourned until 10:30am on Friday (April 7).