Performance of

th
14 National Assembly of Pakistan
2013 - 2018

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www.fafen.org I www.openparliament.pk
 th
14 NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ENDS WITH
LEGISLATIVE DISTINCTION
§ Both government and opposition members point out quorum 159 times
§ 182 Government and 23 Private Members' Bills Sail Through the House
§ Nikhat Shakeel of MQM sponsors most bills, Asiya Naz of PML-N raises most CANs,
Muzammil Qureshi of MQM asks most questions, Sahibzada Tariqullah of JI sponsors
most resolutions, while Sher Akbar of JI submits maximum Motions under Rule 259

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Despite political controversies in the past five years, the
14th National Assembly took up an unprecedented
legislative agenda by approving 205 bills as compared to
134 and 51 bills passed by 13th and 12th National
Assemblies during their five-year terms, respectively.
The House approved several important pieces of
legislation, including five constitutional amendments during
56 sessions comprising 495 sittings, that provided for
setting up military courts for an initial period of two years
and their subsequent extension for another two years,
reallocation of National Assembly seats among federating
units on the basis of fresh census results, electoral reforms
and the merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas
(FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Elections Act, 2017,
which reformed and consolidated the erstwhile eight
separate election laws of the country, also saw light of the
day during the term of the 14th Assembly.
Other important government legislations included reforms
in the criminal justice system providing for compensation of
litigation costs, institutionalization of alternate dispute
resolution mechanisms, witnesses' protection and
expeditious disposal of law suits. The House also legislated
for the right to information, whistleblowers' protection,
climate change and institutional reforms. In addition to the
legislation, the House adopted 209 resolutions making
recommendations to the government on the issues
concerning foreign affairs, economy, internal security,
education, health and others.
Keeping the tradition set by the previous Assembly alive,
the House passed 23 private members' bills as well. Overall
237 private members' bills were introduced in the Lower
House. Among the parliamentary parties, MQM lawmakers
were most keen towards introducing the private members'
legislation as they sponsored nearly one third (75) bills
during the reporting period. Private lawmakers of the ruling
party, PML-N sponsored 53 bills, PPPP lawmakers 33 and
PTI lawmakers 26. Moreover, legislators from two or more
political parties collaborated in sponsoring nine private
members' bills.
The lawmakers kept a close vigil on the executive by raising
13,912 questions, moving 533 Calling Attention Notices,
and holding discussions on 45 Motions under Rule 259.
During the reporting period, 194 lawmakers of 16
parliamentary parties, including 56 women and 138 men,
exercised their right to ask questions on the floor of the
House. Women lawmakers asked 7,909 (57%) questions
while men 6,003 (43%) questions. The government replied
to 10,926 (79%) out of 13,912 questions while 2,977 (21%)
questions remained unaddressed during the term of the
Assembly.
Of 533 CANs submitted during five years, the House took
up 424 (80%) CANs during the proceedings and sought
government response on the issues of public importance.
However, the House showed a dismal performance in
taking up the Motions under Rule 259 as only 45 out of 329

1
motions – 26 government and 303 private – came under
discussion during the term of the Assembly. All of the
government motions except one were discussed while only
20 private motions were taken up for discussion.
The 14th National Assembly passed 18 amendments to the
Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business by
introducing some meaningful reforms. The composition of
the Public Accounts Committee was changed to give
representation to the Senate making it more powerful to
oversight the financial discipline of the executive. In a
historic first, the previous Assembly had amended the
Rules of Procedure allowing the standing committees to
scrutinize ministerial budgetary proposals before their
inclusion in the federal budget and make recommendations
on these proposals. Further strengthening the
parliamentary role in the budget-making, the 14th
Assembly bound the government ministries to inform the
standing committees about incorporation of their
recommendations in the final budgetary proposals. In
another amendment, the House mandated the recitation of
Naat before the commencement of its formal proceedings.
During five years of the Assembly, 306 (89%) out of 342
lawmakers actively participated in the House business by
sponsoring agenda items and taking part in the plenary
discussions. However, the lawmakers' attendance showed
a declining trend over the period of five years with annual
average attendance falling from 222 (65%) legislators per
sitting during first year to 189 (55%) lawmakers per sitting
2
during the last year.
The outgoing Assembly was also unique in terms of the
elections to the offices of the Speaker and the Leader of the
House. The Assembly had to choose the Speaker and the
Leaders of the House twice during its five-year term. The re-
election to the office of the Speaker was necessitated by
the de-seating of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq by an election
tribunal which had declared his election as the Member of
National Assembly null and void and ordered re-poll in his
constituency NA-122. Following his re-election to the
House, he became the only parliamentarian having been
chosen as the Speaker twice during a single term of the
Assembly. The re-election to the office of the Prime Minister
took place due to the disqualification of former Premier
Nawaz Sharif from holding public office by the Supreme
Court of Pakistan in July 2017. Moreover, the House also
witnessed the address by the Presidents of China, Turkey
and Indonesia to the Joint Sessions of both Houses of the
Parliament.
To see the list of top 10 performing parliamentarians against
each agenda item, please refer to Annexure A.
Five Years at a Glance
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th
Parliamentary Parliamentary Parliamentary Parliamentary Parliamentary
Year Year Year Year Year
Number of Sessions 11 11 10 10 14
Number of Assembly Sittings 99 92 99 97 108
Number of Joint Sittings 1 17 4 5 2
Number of Working Days 131 132 135 133 148
Preisdential Address to Parliament 1 1 1 1 1
Address by Indonesian President 1
Address by Chinese President 1
Address by Turkish President 1
Election of the Prime Minister 1 1
Election of the Speaker 1 1
Total Duration of Proceedings (hours) 355 276 334 317 293
Average Sitting Duration (hh:mm) 3:35 3:00 3:22 3:08 2:40
Average Delay before each Sitting (Minutes) 32 35 14 12 22
Average Maximum Attendance per sitting 222 194 208 205 189
*Sitting Attended by Member (Average) 65 63 63 61 60
*Maximum Attendance in any sitting 317 287 302 277 315
Minimum Attendance in any sitting 105 87 122 119 92
*Number of Active Members 304 260 295 270 306
Govt. Bills Passed 11 16 59 50 46
Private Members' Bills Passed 0 0 0 9 14
Private Members' Bills Introduced 45 35 44 68 45
CANs on Agenda 128 91 127 89 98
CANs Taken Up 104 70 111 74 69
Resolutions on Agenda 116 72 100 90 86
Resolutions Adopted 56 34 44 40 36
Amendments to Rules on Agenda 3 19 34 17 15
Amendments to Rules Adopted 0 0 4 8 7
Starred Questions 1890 1681 1987 1839 1321
Unstarred Questions 2084 980 1021 541 568
Motions Discussed (under Rule 259) 18 9 8 9 4
Identification of Quorum 19 7 26 42 65

3
Section 1:
Assembly Sittings and Attendance

Lawmakers' attendance and active participation during
parliamentary proceedings is a fundamental indicator of
representation and safeguarding citizens' interests.
Moreover, it also ensures that public representatives are
keenly overseeing the government's performance.
The 14th National Assembly took oath on June 1, 2013
and held 56 sessions in five years comprising 495
sittings. Of these, 99 sittings were held during the first
parliamentary year, 92 during the second year, 99 during
the third year, 97 during the fourth year and 108 during
the fifth and last parliamentary year. Moreover, 29 joint
sittings of both Houses of the Parliament were also held
during this period.
According to the official records, each National
Assembly sitting was attended by an average 202 (59%)
lawmakers. However, an analysis of the attendance
during different parliamentary years and sessions
illustrates a declining trend of legislators' presence in the
House proceedings. The annual average attendance
has declined from 222 (65%) legislators per sitting during
first year to 189 (55%) legislators per sitting during the
fifth year. Similarly, the session-wise average fell from
311 (91%) per sitting during the first session to an all-
time low 159 (46%) in the last (56th) session. Following
graphs show the annual average attendance and
session-wise average attendance of legislators.

Annual Average Attendance

230
222
220

208
Annual Avergare Attendance

210
203
200
194
189
190

180
1

Parliamentary Years

4
S1: Assembly Sittings and Attendance

311 Session wise Average Attendance

350
291

270
300

255

245

235

235
233

226
225

223
221

220
216

216
250

207
206

205
203

200
200
196

193

192
189

185
184
246

174
231

168
240

239
Members

200
214

218

213
212

212
203
196

199

197
196

190

193
186

186
180

179
175
150

172

173

171
168
159

159
100

50

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Sessions

Categorized with regards to the number of sittings that each lawmaker attended during five years, as many as 12
lawmakers, including five women fall in the category of 91% or more attendance. As many as 35 lawmakers including
14 women had an attendance between 81% and 90% while 74 lawmakers including 17 women had an attendance
between 71% and 80%. As many as four lawmakers including one woman attended less than 10% of the sittings.
Below graph shows the gender-wise attendance of lawmakers in percentages.
Lawmakers' Attendance Patterns
91% and Above 7
5
81% to 90% 21
14
71% to 80% 54
17
61% to 70% 50
12
51% to 60% 49
11
Category

41% to 50% 33
3
31% to 40% 28
5
21% to 30% 16
1
11% to 20% 8
1
Less than or 3
equal to 10% 1
Male Female

5
LEGISLATORS'
S1: ATTENDANCE
Assembly Sittings and Attendance

Calculated regionally, each sitting, on an average, had 111 legislators from Punjab, 43 from Sindh, 29 from KP, 11
from Balochistan, 7 from FATA and one from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Moreover, on an average, seven out
of ten minority legislators also attended each sitting.

Regional Average Attendance

Sindh 43
75
FATA 7
12
Punjab 117
183
ICT 1
Region

2
Balochistan 11
17
Khyber 29
Pakhtunkhwa 43
Minority 7
10
Average Attendance Total Membership

Average Attendance/Total Membership

Legislators from both sides of the aisle indicated the lack of quorum – i.e. less than a quarter of the total membership
being present – 159 times during five years. As many as 66 sittings had to be adjourned without complete their
scheduled business due to lack of quorum. Additionally, the proceedings were suspended during 44 sittings to wait for
the completion of quorum. On remaining 49 occasions, the quorum was found complete on the headcount.

Regional Average Attendance

70 65
Number of Instances when Quorum

60
50 42
was identified

40
26
30 19
20
7
10
0
1

Parliamentary Years

6
Section 2
Parliamentary Output

Legislation is considered to be the most important Parliament which is sought in forms of legislative bills.
parliamentary function. Every penny to be spent by the Legislation may be moved by both the government and
government and all of its policies needs approval of the the private lawmakers.

2.1 Legislation

The 14th Assembly passed 205 legislative bills – 182 government bills and 23 private members' bills – during five years.
Of these, 136 have become the act of Parliament after their approval from the Senate and subsequent assent by the
President. The previous 13th Assembly had passed 134 bills while its predecessor 12th Assembly passed 51 bills
during their five-year terms.
More than half of the 14th Assembly's legislation (110 or 53%) comprised of amendments to the existing laws while
remaining 95 were fresh pieces of legislation. The Assembly's legislation mainly focused matters related to economy,
judiciary, security, institutional reforms, human rights, elections and education. Below figure shows a thematic
distribution of the legislation approved by the outgoing Assembly.

1 Economy 2 Judiciary 3 Miscellaneous 4 Institutional

No. of Bills Reforms
on Themes
52 27 26 18
5 Human 6 Security 7 Election 8 Education 9 Energy
Rights

17 16 14 12 7
10 Accountability 11 Constitutional 7 Health 8 Agriculture 9 Environment
and Transparency Amendments

5 5 3 2 1
7
S2: Parliamentary Output

Economy has been a dominant theme of 14th Assembly's legislation. The Assembly passed 52 bills focusing on
taxation, banking, financial security, corporatization, foreign exchange, trade and commerce. This number is more than
double of the number of bills passed during the term of previous Assembly on this subject. Economy-related legislation
of the outgoing Assembly was entirely sponsored by the government and included amendments to the legal framework
governing financial and regulatory institutions such as Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan and State Bank
of Pakistan. Additionally, the House legislated for reforming the legal statues regulating the companies, banks,
economic zones and stock exchanges as well as for improving the tariff regimes, anti-money laundering efforts and
benami transactions. The House also repealed the legal statues of House Building Finance Corporation, Investment
Corporation of Pakistan and Federal Bank for Cooperatives.
Under the theme of security, the House passed 16 bills amending the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and the Pakistan Army
Act 1952, and framing afresh legislative framework for dealing with terrorism-related cases under the Protection of
Pakistan Act. Moreover, amendments were introduced in National Counter Terrorism Authority Act 2013, the
Foreigners Act 1946, the National Database and Registration Authority Ordinance, 2002, the Explosive Substances Act
1908 and the country's criminal laws. Additionally, legislation concerning electronic crimes was also approved during
the term of the Assembly.
As many as 27 judiciary-related bills introduced several reforms in the country's legal and judicial system including
alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, evening courts, speedy trial, compensation of litigation costs, witness
protection, error-free standardized publication of federal laws and other such mechanisms.
'Elections' was another important area that the outgoing Assembly legislated upon. The House passed 14 bills
providing for the local government elections in Islamabad Capital Territory and Cantonments, amendments in old
election laws and consolidation of the eight old laws into a unified election law and salaries of the members of the
Election Commission.
The House also approved five constitutional amendments during its tenure related to the security, elections and merger
of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During five years, the House granted charter to
eight higher education institutions, approved a bill mandating compulsory teaching of Holy Quran in educational
Institutions and provided legal and administrative framework for setting up a National Civic Education Commission.
In the health sector, the House provided legal framework for setting up a Health Research Council and legislated upon
transplantation of human organs, and compulsory blood testing of thalassemia patients. Moreover, the Assembly
legislated for protection of the rights of women, children, transgendered persons, persons with disabilities and
minorities while two bills providing for prevention of human trafficking were also approved.
The House passed 17 bills providing for reforms and changes in the existing administrative frameworks of various
institutions and organizations. These 17 bills also included the legislation for the regulation of employment in the
National Assembly and Senate Secretariats. It was first time since the adoption of the Constitution that the House
legislated upon this subject. Before the enactment of these legislations, the employment in the two parliamentary
secretariats was regulated under the rules made by the Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairman of the Senate.
Moreover, the House passed bills on Right to Information, protection of whistle-blowers and setting up commissions of

8
S2: Parliamentary Output

inquiry to probe into important national issues. Other areas of legislation included environment, agriculture and
governance. Refer to annexure XX for a complete list of bills passed during the term of 14th Assembly.
The previous Assembly had set a welcome tradition of passing 19 private members' bills during its five years. Keeping
the tradition alive, the outgoing Assembly also passed 23 (10%) of 237 private members' bills introduced in the House.
Still, a number of private lawmakers' legislative proposals remained stuck in the parliamentary committees till the end of
the Assembly's term. A majority of the private members' legislation (134 or 56%) was initiated by the women
lawmakers. On the other hand, male members elected on the general seats introduced 82 bills and minority lawmakers
21 bills. Among the parliamentary parties, MQM lawmakers were most keen towards the legislation as they introduced
75 bills during five years, more than any other party. Despite a very well numerical majority, the private lawmakers of
PML-N sponsored only 53 bills. Of other major parties, PPPP lawmakers introduced 33 bills and PTI 26. Moreover,
lawmakers from two or more parties collaborated in sponsoring nine private members' bills. Below figure shows the
party-wise numbers of bills introduced in the House during the reporting period.

Party Affiliations of Legislation Sponsors

MQM PML-N PPPP PTI JUI-F JI QWP-S Joint

75 53 33 26 26 14 1 9
Seat Type of Legislation Sponsors
Seat Type No of Bills
Elected 82
Minority 21
Reserved for Women 134
Total 237

9
S2: Parliamentary Output

2.2 Resolutions
Through resolutions, the house expresses its opinion, makes recommendations, or conveys a message on a definite
and important issue.
Lawmakers moved 464 resolutions highlighting various local, national and international issues during five years of the
14th Assembly. The House adopted 209 of these resolutions and rejected four private lawmakers' resolutions while no
vote took place on the remaining 251 resolutions. Of these unaddressed resolutions, 232 were never read out in the
House, 11 were dropped due to the absence of movers, four were kept pending, three were debated without a vote and
one was referred to the committee. Out of 209 adopted resolutions, 44 were government resolutions, 87 private
members' resolutions and 78 jointly sponsored by ministers and private lawmakers belonging to two or more parties.
The lawmakers expressed their opinions on issues concerning health, education, human rights, energy crisis, foreign
affairs, terrorism, economy, governance, democracy and politics. Moreover, 25 of these resolutions were passed to
extend the life of presidential ordinances promulgated without the approval of the Parliament. Taking cognizance of the
country's energy crisis, the House adopted 10 resolutions expressing its concerns on electricity load-shedding in the
country and recommending the government to find solutions for the issue by constructing dams and investing in
exploration of new energy reservoirs. Moreover, the House adopted nine resolutions on educational matters urging the
government to establish new universities in various parts of the country and improve existing educational facilities.
In five resolutions, the lawmakers urged the government to take steps towards improving the performance of state
institutions like Pakistan Television, Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan International Airlines and Pakistan Bureau of
Statistics. In 27 terrorism-related resolutions, the lawmakers expressed their sentiments on various incidents of
terrorism in the country and suggested different means to the government to deal with this menace. Moreover, 44
resolutions on foreign policy matters depicted the thoughts of the House on Pakistan's relations with India, the United
States, and the Muslim countries as well as the performance of the Pakistan Foreign Office and the country's
involvement in the war on terror.
The House adopted 13 resolutions related to human rights, including the rights of women, minorities and children.
Furthermore, the House adopted 13 resolutions on religious affairs, 10 on democracy and election-related matters,
nine on health issues, five on increasing rate of inflation and petroleum prices and 19 on various governance-related
issues. In two resolutions, the House recommended the government to reduce indirect taxation on citizens. The House
also adopted eight resolutions offering its condolences on the demise of several national and international figures and
victims of natural calamities while three resolutions commended the efforts of Benazir Bhutto, Malala Yousfazai and
Street Footballers of Lyari for the nation.
Once adopted by the House, a resolution is communicated to the concerned government department for follow-up
actions. The concerned department is bound, under the Assembly Rules of Procedure, to apprise the House about the
action taken on the resolution within a period of six months from the date of communication by the Assembly
Secretariat. However, no such reports were presented before the House during its formal proceedings, therefore, the
fate of the Assembly's resolutions remains unknown.

10
S2: Parliamentary Output

As many as 199 out of 342 lawmakers – 139 men and 60 women – sponsored the resolutions. Below figure shows
gender-wise numbers of lawmakers who moved resolutions individually or in collaboration with their colleagues.

Political Party Male Female Overall

AJIP 1 1
AMLP 1 1
ANP 1 1
APML 1 1
BNP 1 1
IND 7 7
JI 3 1 4
JUI 9 4 13
MQM 22 5 27
NP 1 1
NPP 1 1
PKMAP 3 1 4
PML 1 1
PML-F 1 1 2
PML-N 50 31 81
PML-Z 1 1
PPPP 9 11 20
PTI 25 6 31
QWP 1 1
Overall 139 60 199

2.3 Amendments to the Rules of Procedure

The Assembly's proceedings are governed under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business which are subject to
continuous evolution through amendments with the approval of the majority of the House. During the term of 14th
Assembly, 53 lawmakers proposed 88 amendments to the rules, of which 19 were adopted and made part of the
National Assembly Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, 2007. Of the remaining 69, as many as 33 did not
proceed beyond the committee stage, 17 were defeated through a vote, 14 appeared on the Orders of the Day but
were never read in the House, three were dropped due to the absence of relevant lawmakers while two were kept
pending.
A PML-N-sponsored package of amendments at three places in the Rules of Procedure necessitated the recitation of
Naat before the commencement of formal proceedings of House sittings. In a treasury-sponsored amendment, the

11
S2: Parliamentary Output

House approved the inclusion of six Senate members in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In another amendment,
the House bound the government ministries to report their concerned standing committees on inclusion of committee
recommendations in their development-related budgetary proposals. Other government-backed amendments
provided for constitution of sub-committees by the Standing Committees of the House as well as for the changes in the
process of giving notice for questions. An amendment sponsored by MQM lawmaker changed the quorum of a
standing committee meeting from four members to one-fourth of the committee membership. Other amendments
were of the inconsequential nature and introduced minor changes in the rules like replacing the name of the ministries
after bifurcation of the portfolios.
Nearly a quarter (23) of 88 proposed amendments were sponsored by PML-N lawmakers including eight amendments
proposed by the government. Moreover, MQM lawmakers suggested 21 amendments, both PPPP and JUI-F 12 each,
and both JI and PTI two each while 16 amendments were jointly moved by private lawmakers belonging to two or more
parties.
As many as 21 out of 53 lawmakers who sponsored amendments belonged to MQM, 11 to JUI-F, eight to PPPP, six to
PML-N, five to PTI and one each to JI and independent group.

12
Section 3
Representation and Parliamentary
Oversight of the Executive

The oversight of the executive and representation of government through questions and Calling Attention
public issues and aspirations is among the core Notices and discussing the matters of public importance
functions of the Parliament besides lawmaking. It is on Adjournment Motions and Motions under Rule 259 of
carried out through seeking information from the the Rules of Procedure.

3.1 Calling Attention Notices

Lawmakers use Calling Attention Notices for drawing the government's attention to a matter of public interest.
According to Rule 88 of the National Assembly Rules of Procedures and Conduct of Business 2007, members can
draw the attention of a minister towards any matter of urgent public importance through a CAN submitted at least one
day before it is to be taken up.
Lawmakers submitted 533 CANs during five years of the 14th Assembly, of which 424 (80%) came under consideration
during the House proceedings. Of remaining 109 notices, 96 were never read out, eight were dropped due to the
absence of the movers, four were kept pending and one was withdrawn by the mover. These notices were addressed to
37 government ministries and departments. Refer to Annexure C for the list of ministries addressed in the CANs.
Lawmakers belonging to PML-N submitted 187 CANs and were followed by lawmakers of PPPP, MQM and PTI who
submitted 87, 60 and 55 CANs, respectively. As many as 34 CANs were jointly moved by the lawmakers belonging to
two or more parties. Out of 342, 228 lawmakers, including 64 women and 164 men, highlighted the public importance
issues through CANs. Below figure shows the party-wise and gender-wise number of lawmakers who submitted
notices during the 14th National Assembly's term.

Party Male Members Female Members Overall

AJIP 1 1
AMLP 1 1
ANP 2 2
APML 1 1
BNP 1 1
IND 10 10
JI 3 1 4
JUI 5 4 9
MQM 21 5 26

13
Section 3: Representation and Parliamentary Oversight of the Executive

Party Male Members Female Members Overall

NP 1 1
NPP 1 1
PKMAP 2 1 3
PML-N 66 34 100
PPPP 22 12 34
PTI 27 6 33
QWP 1 1
Overall 164 64 228

3.2 Questions
A total of 13,912 questions – 8,718 starred and 5,194 unstarred – were asked from 44 ministries and departments of
the government during the five parliamentary years.
Year Starred Unstarred Grand Total
1st Parliamentary Year 1890 2084 3974
2nd Parliamentary Year 1681 980 2661
3rd Parliamentary Year 1987 1021 3008
4th Parliamentary Year 1839 541 2380
5th Parliamentary Year 1321 568 1889
Grand Total 8718 5194 13912

The number of questions steadily dropped over the period of five years from 3974 questions in first year to 1889
questions in fifth year. Lawmakers focused more on the ministries of Interior & Narcotics Control, Finance, Revenue,
Economic Affairs, Statistics & Privatization, Water & Power and Petroleum & Natural Resources than other ministries as
more than 1000 questions were addressed to each of these ministries. Annexure D shows a ministry-wise number of
starred and unstarred questions asked by the lawmakers.
The government replied to 10,926 (79%) out of 13,912 questions while 2,977 (21%) remained unaddressed during the
term of the Assembly. As many as three questions were withdrawn by the concerned lawmakers. Moreover, the
Speaker disallowed a JI lawmaker's question asked from the Ministry of Energy about the Tharparkar electricity project.
Nearly 57% or 194 out of 342 lawmakers belonging to 16 parliamentary parties exercised their right to seek information
from the government through questions during the term of 14th Assembly. This number includes 56 women and 138
men lawmakers. Women lawmakers asked 7,909 (57%) questions and men 6,003 (43%) questions.
Among major parliamentary parties, PML-N lawmaker asked 3,886 (28) questions, PPPP 2,967 (21%), MQM 2,250

14
Section 3: Representation and Parliamentary Oversight of the Executive

(16%) and PTI 2,184 (16%) questions. Nearly 46% or 83 out of 182 of PML-N lawmakers asked questions from the
government during five years. This percentage of lawmakers was higher among main opposition parties (PPPP, MQM
and PTI). Around 94% (30 out of 32) PTI lawmakers, 88% (21 out of 24) MQM lawmakers and 67% (31 out of 46) PPPP
lawmakers' submitted questions to the government. Gender-wise analysis of the questions shows that 81% (57 out of
69) women lawmakers exercised their right to ask questions as compared to 50% (138 out of 273) men lawmakers.

3.3 Motions under Rule 259

Under Rule 259, any minister or member may give a motion that any policy, situation, statement or any other matter
maybe taken into consideration. Lawmakers moved 329 motions under Rule 259 during the term of 14th Assembly
highlighting various issues of public importance. The House took up nearly 14% or 45 of these motions for discussion
during the proceedings. The government moved 26 out of 329 motions and all of these except one were discussed in
the House. On the other hand, out of 303 motions sponsored by private lawmakers, only 20 came under discussion.
The private lawmakers of PML-N sponsored 112 motions, PPPP lawmakers 62 motions, JI lawmakers 40 motions, PTI
lawmakers 36 motions, MQM lawmakers 31 motions, JUI-F lawmakers 20 motions and independent lawmakers two
motions.
As many as 74 lawmakers – 43 men and 31 women – sponsored these Motions under Rule 259. This number includes
27 lawmakers of PML-N, 16 of PPPP, 14 of MQM, nine of PTI, four of JI, three of JUI-F and an independent.

Political Party Male Member Female Member Overall

IND 1 1
JI 3 1 4
JUI 3 3
MQM 11 3 14
PML-N 14 13 27
PPPP 8 8 16
PTI 6 3 9
Overall 43 31 74

15
Annex A: List of Top Performers

16
Annex A: List of Top Performers

17
Annex A: List of Top Performers

18
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

19
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

20
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

21
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

22
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

23
Annex B: Parliamentary Output

24
Annex C: Ministry-wise Questions

25
Annex C: Ministry-wise Questions

26
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§ With around 20,000 followers on Twitter and around 133,000 on Facebook, FAFEN is considered
one of the most reliable sources of electoral and parliamentary information in the country.

Free and Fair Election Network

www.fafen.org

www.openparliament.pk I www.parliamentfiles.com