15th National Assembly: a parliament in disarray

The end of the 15th National Assembly threw the holding of the next general elections into uncertainty, a domestic think tank observed in its report on the five-year performance of the lower house of parliament.

The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) added that low attendance of members, incomplete quorum, insufficient debate on legislation and irrelevant speeches reflected the lack of seriousness of the 15th NA.

The think tank noted in its report that the elected representatives of political parties used the NA to humiliate each other.

Pildat continued that the 15th NA only weakened democracy in the country and its elected representatives presented an opportunity to allow themselves to be used for this purpose.

The 15th NA did not play any role in resolving major crises.

The elected representatives undermined parliamentary decorum and democracy.

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The think tank further pointed out that the elected representatives dented the continuity of the political process for their short-term gains.

The think tank calculated that the average expenditure of one day of the NA sitting was an amount of Rs6.65 million.

The report stated that during the five years of the 15th NA, the attendance of its members was 61%.

The attendance of former premier Imran Khan in the NA stood at only 11%. The attendance rate of his successor, Shehbaz Sharif, in the lower house of parliament was slightly better at 17%.

For comparison’s sake, the attendance of then Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in the 13th NA was 76%.

During the last 20 years, Imran’s attendance was the least among the nine prime ministers of the country.

According to the report, Moulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of the Jamaat-e-Islami spoke the most in the 15th NA.

Besides, PML-N’s Khawaja Asif and Murtaza Javed Abbasi, JUI-F’s Maulana Asad Mahmood, and MQM-P’s Salahuddin were among the most vocal MNAs.

According to the report, the 15th NA passed 279 laws in its five years.

The report observed that hasty legislation in the last days of the 15th NA undermined the basic principles of parliamentary democracy.

The 15th NA saw an increase of 45% against the 192 laws passed during the 14th lower house of parliament.

In the last 21 days of the NA, 73 bills were passed -- 36 of them without being sent to the relevant committees.

According to the report, the lower house of parliament passed 126 bills during the 3.5 years of the PTI-led government,

During the 16 months of the coalition government, 153 bills were passed.

The PTI relied on ordinances during its tenure.

During the five years, 75 ordinances were presented in the NA -- 72 by the PTI and three by the coalition government.

According to the report, 452 sessions were held during the five years of the 15th NA,

There were 495 sessions of the 14th NA

It is a constitutional requirement to have 130 sessions of the lower house of parliament in a year.

During the five years, the 15th NA held an average of 90 sessions annually.

During the 15th NA sessions, 50% of the agenda items remained incomplete.

Lack of quorum was observed 105 times in the 15th NA during its five years.

A total of 72 sessions of the NA were postponed because of the lack of quorum.