ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (ABC): As the 15th National Assembly concluded its 4th parliamentary year, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency (PILDAT) on Monday released analysis of its performance based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
The 15th National Assembly during its fourth year passed 55 laws as compared to 60 bills in the third year. Some 32 government bills were introduced in the fourth year against 31 bills in the last year. However, the 15th National Assembly has passed 155 bills in its first four years as compared to 125 by the 14th National Assembly during the same period.
The 15th National Assembly has, therefore, approved 24% more laws than the previous assembly in four years. A slight decrease is seen in the number of ordinances laid by the government in the National Assembly during its fourth year compared to the third year. Sixteen (16) ordinances were laid in the assembly in the fourth year against twenty (20) during the third year which is a decrease of about 20%. The 15th National Assembly met for 87 days in the fourth parliamentary year.
The assembly has, thus, met for 10% more days than it was convened during its third year, which were 79 sittings. During the fourth year, Member of the National Assembly, Imran Khan, attended only one NA sitting (1.14%) while he held the office of prime minister. Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, MNA, who took oath as prime minister on April 11, 2022, attended eight sittings as PM.
Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif remained Leader of the Opposition till April 10, 2022, and in that capacity, attended 19 out of 43 sittings of the assembly in its fourth year. This was an improvement from his 13% attendance during the third year. Raja Riaz Ahmad, MNA, who was declared as Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly on May 20, 2022, has attended 13 out of 37 sittings during the fourth year.
During the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government (3 years and 8 months) in the 15th National Assembly, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian was the most vocal MNA with a recorded talk time of 1 hour and 59 minutes.
Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz, then Leader of the Opposition, spoke for 1 hour and 57 minutes, followed by Khawaja Muhammad Asif of the PML-N, who spoke for 1 hour and 27 minutes. Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary of the PML-N spoke for 1 hour and 11 minutes while Shazia Marri of the PPPP spoke for 51 minutes. The fourth year of the 15th National Assembly has seen 14 days for the annual budget session and the passage of the Finance bill 2022-2023, two days less than what was spent during the third year.