ISLAMABAD: While there was not a single sitting of the Senate with 100pc attendance during its parliamentary year ending on Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif made only one visit to the upper house during the period.

The annual report of Senate’s performance during the parliamentary year from Mar 12, 2015, to Mar 11, 2016, said out of the 119 working days, the average attendance of the senators remained 68.6pc.

In the house of 104 members, the maximum strength - 97 - were present soon after the start of the parliamentary year on Mar 13, 2015.

The lowest attendance was recorded on Jan 15, 2016, when only 48 senators attended the session.

The report also stated that 47 bills were introduced in the Senate during the period. Out of the 239 resolutions submitted to the house, 182 were admitted and 62 passed and the others were either disallowed, dropped or they lapsed.

Report on parliamentary year says average attendance of senators remained 68.6pc

The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) lauded the Senate report and said the upper house had set a high standard for parliamentary transparency and openness.

But Pildat decried that the prime minister attended only one of the 103 sittings of the house in the entire year

“The prime minister violated Rule 61(2A) that had been amended by the senators in 2014 to make it mandatory for him to attend the zero hour of the sitting at least once a week.” The last hour of the Senate session is called the zero hour. During the zero hour, the members get a chance to raise matters of public importance needing an immediate attention.

The report added that the presence of ministers in the Senate was also negligible and some were even barred from entering the house by the chairman.

It suggested that a ‘conflict of interest’ provision be introduced and the members of both the houses declare all financial interests that may potentially create a conflict of interest between their duties as legislators and their personal interests.

The report said the leader of the house and the leader of the opposition each had the attendance records of 76pc and 68pc respectively.

The Senate standing committee on finance was the most proactive as it met 38 times during the year.

On the other hand, the Senate committee on ports and shipping remained the least proactive with only two meetings.

The report also highlighted the efforts of the chairman Senate regarding the introduction of e-parliament, which included a new revamped Senate website, live webcast and attendance of individual senators.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2016