Provincial Assembly of the North-West Frontier Province

The Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is the unicameral legislative body of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

. It was established under Article 106 of the Constitution of the Pakistan. The assembly has 124 elected members

Member of Provincial Assembly

A Member of Provincial Assembly or MPA is an elected representative to one of the four provincial assemblies of Pakistan, which are:*The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan*The Provincial Assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa...

, 99 regular seats, 22 seats reserved for women and 3 seats for Non-Muslims.

Administration

The Federal Government appoints a Governor as head of the Provincial Government, the province is divided into 24 districts. Each district has a Zilla Nazim, in a District the functions are devolved further to the Tehsil

Tehsil

A Tehsil or Tahsil/Tahasil , also known as Taluk and Mandal, is an administrative division of some country/countries of South Asia....

, Town and Union Council

Union Councils of Pakistan

A sherwan or village council in Pakistan is an elected local government body consisting of 21 councillors, and headed by a nazim and a naib nazim...

Governments.

History

In 1901 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was declared as a Chief Commissioner Province and thirty-one years later in 1932 its status was raised to the Governor Province. In 1937, the Government of India Act 1935 was enforced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Legislative Assembly was formed by Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan

Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum Khan

Nawab Sir Sahibzada Abdul Qayyum , hailing from Topi, Swabi District, British India, was a distinguished educationist and politician from a notable family...

. The first speaker was K.B Abdul Rahim Khan Kundi, who worked on the slot from 1932 to 1936 and was followed by Khan Habibullah Khan

Khan Habibullah Khan

Habibullah Khan Marwat was a politician and former Peshawar High Court judge. In 1937, Habibullah Khan joined the Khaksar movement and worked in the North West Frontier Province...

. During the tenure of both the dignitaries, the post was called Deputy President instead of deputy speaker and Khan Mohammad Sarwar Khan was the first one, who was called provincial deputy speaker.

This minority government fell shortly afterwards and Dr.Khan Sahib, backed by the Khudai Khidmatgar

Khudai Khidmatgar

Khudai Khidmatgar literally translates as the servants of God, represented a non-violent freedom struggle against the British Empire by the Pashtuns of the North-West Frontier Province....

was elected Chief Minister. His government resigned in 1939 as part of the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

's Quit India Movement

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement , or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement launched in India in August 1942 in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for immediate independence. Gandhi hoped to bring the British government to the negotiating table...

. The provincial government remained suspended for over three years before a minority government was formed by the Muslim League

Muslim League

The All-India Muslim League,, was founded by the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference at Dhaka , in 1906, in the context of the circumstances that were generated over the partition of Bengal in 1905...

Sardar Aurangzeb Khan. This government collapsed in 1944 when Dr. Khan Sahib managed to form a government again, before calling an election in 1946.
The Indian National Congress under Dr. Khan Sahib won the 1946 elections despite a strong showing by the Muslim League The first session of parliament was summoned on 12 March 1946 under the Chairmanship of Sardar Bahadur Khan while Nawabzada Allah Nawaz Khan was elected as Speaker and Lala Girdheri Lal as Deputy Speaker on 13 March 1946. The total number of members was 50, the provincial government of Dr.Khan Sahib was dismissed by the Governor-General in September 1947 after the Chief Minister did not attend the oath taking ceremony of the new nation state of Pakistan. The Muslim league minority Chief Minister Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan formed a government. This Assembly was dissolved in 1951 and the number of members was increased from 80 to 85. The Muslim League controversially won the 1951 elections. Then comes names of Nawabzada Allah Nawaz Khan, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, Girdhari Lal who occupied the slot during 1947, Khan Muhammad Farid Khan, Malik Amir Alam Khan, Arbab Saifur Rahman who worked two times as deputy speaker, Muhammad Nawaz Khan, Rahim Dad Khan, Ahmad Hassan Khan, Abdul Akbar Khan, Shad Muhammad Khan Khattak, Syed Allaudin and Haji Muhammad Adeel who was the last deputy speaker.
After the creation of Pakistan, the first Election in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Legislative Council was held on 15 December 1951 and the session of the Assembly was summoned on 10 January 1952 for the oath taking ceremony. Nawabzada Allah Nawaz Khan was again elected as the unopposed Speaker and Khan Muhammad Farid Khan as Deputy Speaker on 10 July 1952.

Following the declaration of One Unit

One Unit

One-Unit was the title of a scheme launched by the federal government of Pakistan to merge the four provinces of West Pakistan into one homogenous unit, as a counterbalance against the numerical domination of the ethnic Bengalis of East Pakistan...

on 3 October 1955, the country was divided into two provinces, West Pakistan

West Pakistan

West Pakistan , common name West-Pakistan , in the period between its establishment on 22 November 1955 to disintegration on December 16, 1971. This period, during which, Pakistan was divided, ended when East-Pakistan was disintegrated and succeeded to become which is now what is known as Bangladesh...

and East Pakistan

Pakistan

and the Legislative Assembly Building was declared as Peshawar High Court

Peshawar High Court

The Peshawar High Court is the highest judicial institution of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. It is situated at the provincial capital Peshawar.-History:...

. After the dissolution of West Pakistan dissolution in 1970, was restored. The legislative Assembly was restored as a Provincial Assembly through a presidential order known as legal framework order 1970.

After the restoration of the Provincial Assembly in 1970, General Elections were held for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Assembly on 17 December 1970. At that time the number of member’s seats in the Assembly was 43 out of which 2 seats were reserved for women and only one for minorities. The first session of the Assembly was summoned on 2 May 1972 in the hall of Pakistan Academy for Rural Development, University Town Peshawar. Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak

Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak

Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak was a Pakistani politician and diplomat.-Biography:He was the President of Pakistan Movement in U.K with Dr. Abdur Rahim as Vice President and Chaudhry Rehmat Ali as Secretary. This Organisation gave the world the name "PAKISTAN"...

was elected as Speaker and Arbab Saifur Rehman Khan as Deputy Speaker on 2 May 1972, and opposition leader Mufti Mahmud

Mufti Mahmud

Maulana Mufti Mahmud , an ethnic Marwat Pashtun hailing from Abdul Khel, was born in January 1919 in Paniala, Dera Ismail Khan District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, province of Pakistan. He was an Islamic scholar and political activist. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman is his son and was the leader of opposition in...

was elected Chief Minister as part of an alliance between his party the Jamiat-e-ulema-Islam and the National Awami Party (Wali)

National Awami Party (Wali)

The National Awami Party was formed after a split between Maulana Bhashani and Khan Wali Khan ostensibly over Bhashani's siding with China and Professor Muzaffar Ahmed along with Khan Abdul Wali Khan sided with U.S.S.R in the Sino-Soviet split...

. His government collectively resigned in protest against the dismissal of the Balochistan provincial government. After some political wrangling a minority government was formed by the Pakistan Peoples Party

Pakistan Peoples Party

The Pakistan Peoples Party , is a democratic socialist political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International. Pakistan People's Party is the largest political party of Pakistan...

under Sardar Inayatullah Khan Gandapur

Sardar Inayatullah Khan Gandapur

Sardar Inayatullah Khan Gandapur aged 85 was a Pakistani politician from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. He was born on August 27, 1919 in Kulachi Tehsil of Dera Ismail Khan District...

, he was subsequently replaced by Nasrullah Khan Khattak

Nasrullah Khan Khattak

Nasrullah Khan Khattak was a Pakistani politician from the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. He was born in 1928 in the village of Manki, Nowshera District. He went to Aitchison College Lahore, which at the time was known as Chiefs College. He was the Chief Minister of the province from the...

. The provincial elections in 1977 were boycotted by the opposition Pakistan National Alliance

Pakistan National Alliance

The Pakistan National Alliance was a nine-party alliance in Pakistan, formed in 1977 in which the alliance agreed to run as a single bloc to overthrow the rule of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected leader of that country. It was a major and largest alliance formed against...

, a short-lived government was formed under Chief Minister Muhammad Iqbal Khan Jadoon.

On 5 July 1977 Martial Law was declared and the Provincial Assembly was dissolved. The 1985 elections were held on non-party basis on 28 February 1985. The first session of the Assembly was summoned on 12 March 1985 for the oath taking ceremony. Raja Amanullah Khan and Mr. Ahmad Hassan were elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker on 14 March 1985 and Arbab Jehangir Khan

Arbab Jehangir Khan

Arbab Jehangir Khan Khalil regarded as chief of the Khalil tribe, was a Pakistani politician hailed from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He served as the 14th Chief Minister from April 7, 1985 to May 29, 1988 and then as the Leader of opposition in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assembly from 1989-1990...

was elected Chief Minister. The Assembly Secretariat shifted from Pakistan Academy for Rural Development to its own present building in 1987.

Qualification of members

According to Article 113 of the Constitution, the qualifications for membership in the National Assembly set forth in Article 62 of the Constitution also apply for membership to the Provincial Assembly. Thus, a member of the Provincial Assembly:

must be a citizen of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa;
must be at least twenty-five years of age and must be enrolled as a voter in any electoral roll in–
1. any part of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, for election to a general seat or a seat reserved for non-Muslims; and
2. any area in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa from which the member seeks membership for election to a seat reserved for women.
must be of good character and not commonly known as one who violates Islamic injunctions;
must have adequate knowledge of Islamic teachings and practices obligatory duties prescribed by Islam as well as abstains from major sins;
must be sagacious, righteous, non-profligate, and honest;
must have never been convicted for a crime involving moral turpitude or for giving false evidence;
must have never, after the establishment of Pakistan, worked against the integrity of the country or opposed the ideology of Pakistan.

The disqualifications specified in paragraphs 3 and 4 do not apply to a person who is a non-Muslim, but such a person must have good moral reputation and possess other qualifications prescribed by an act of Parliament.

Disqualification of members

The criteria for disqualification of members of a Provincial Assembly is established by Articles 63, 63A, 113 and 127. A person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Provincial Assembly if the member:

is of unsound mind and has been so declared by a competent court; or
is an undischarged insolvent; or
ceases to be a citizen of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa,Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign State; or
holds an office of profit in the service of Pakistan other than an office declared by law not to disqualify its holder; or
is in the service of any statutory body of any body which is owned or controlled by the Government or in which the Government has a controlling share or interest; or
is propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the Ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or morality, or the maintenance of public order, or the integrity or independence of the judiciary of Pakistan, or which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan; or
has been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction on a charge of corrupt practice, moral turpitude or misuse of power or authority under any law for the time being in force; or
he has been dismissed from the service of Pakistan or service of a corporation or office set up or controlled by the Provincial Government or a Local Government on the grounds of misconduct or moral turpitude; or
has been removed or compulsorily retired from the service of Pakistan or service of a corporation or office set up or controlled by the Provincial Government or a Local Government on the grounds of misconduct or moral turpitude; or
has been in the service of Pakistan or of any statutory body or any body which is owned or controlled by the Government or in which the Government has a controlling share or interest, unless a period of two years has elapsed since he ceased to be in such service; or
is found guilty of a corrupt or illegal practice under any law for the time being in force, unless a period of five years has elapsed from the date on which that order takes effect; or
has been convicted under section 7 of the Political Parties Act, 1962 (III of 1962), unless a period of five years has elapsed from the date of such conviction; or
whether by himself or by any person or body of persons in trust for him or for his benefit or on his account or as a member of a Hindu undivided family, has any share or interest in a contract, not being a contract between a cooperative society and Government, for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any contract or for the performance of any service undertaken by, Government.

Article 63A, which deals with disqualification on grounds of defection, was added to the Constitution in 1997. A member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single political party defects if the member:

resigns from membership of the political party or joins another Parliamentary Party; or
votes or abstains from voting in the Provincial Assembly contrary to any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which the member belongs, in relations to
1. election of the Chief Minister; or
2. a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or
3. a Money Bill.

Privileges of members

Article 66 read with Article 127 confers freedom of speech on the members of the Provincial Assembly. No member is liable to any proceedings in any court of law in respect of anything said or any vote given by him in Assembly. Similarly no member is liable in respect of any publication which is published under the authority of Provincial Assembly.

However, Article 114 of the Constitution curtails this privilege and prohibits members from discussing conduct of judges of High Court and Supreme Court in the discharge of their duties.

First day proceedings in the Provincial Assembly

(a) Oath of Members. - After general elections, elected members in the first meeting take oath in the form set out in Third Schedule of the Constitution. Article 65 read with Article 127 states "A person elected to a House shall not sit or vote until he has made before the House oath in the form set out in the Third Schedule". Those members who have not taken oath in the first meeting take oath when they attend a meeting for the first time. The first meeting is presided by the outgoing Speaker. Article 53 (8) read with Article 127 says "the Speaker shall continue in his office till the person elected to fill the office by next Assembly enters upon his office."
(b) Election and oath of Speaker and Deputy Speaker. - In addition to oath taking by the members, Provincial Assembly according to Article 108 to the exclusion of any other business, elect from amongst its members a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker. When office of Speaker or Deputy Speaker becomes vacant, in any way, the Assembly elects another member as Speaker or Deputy Speaker.

The elected Speaker and Deputy Speaker according to clause 2 of Article 53 read with Article 127 take oath before the House in the form set out in the Third Schedule.

Summoning and prorogation of Provincial Assemblies

Article 109 authorizes the Governor of the Province to summon Provincial Assembly to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit. Where the Governor summons Assembly he is authorized to prorogue it too. In addition, the Speaker, on a requisition signed by not less than one-fourth of the total membership of the Provincial Assembly, can summon it, at such time and place as he thinks fit, within fourteen days of the receipt of the requisition. Article 54(3) read with Article 127 also empowers the Speaker to prorogue the session where he summons it.

Number of sessions and days during a year

Article 54 (2) and (3) read with article 127 say there are at least three sessions of Provincial Assembly every year, with not more than 120 days intervening between the last sitting of the Assembly in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session. While clause 'g' of Article 127 read with Proviso to Article 54 provides that Provincial Assembly shall meet for not less than 70 working days in each year.

Duration of Provincial Assembly

The term of Provincial Assembly in Pakistan according to Article 107 is five years unless it is sooner dissolved, from the day of its first meeting and stands dissolved at the expiration of its terms.

Other methods of dissolution of Provincial Assembly

(a) Dissolution of Provincial Assembly on the advice by the Chief Minister. - Under Article 112, clause 1, the Governor of a Province is empowered to dissolve Provincial Assembly if so advised by the Chief Minister. Where the Chief Minister so advises, the Provincial Assembly stands dissolved at the expiration of 48 hours.
(b) Dissolution of Provincial Assembly by the Governor on the approval by the President. - Clause 2 of the same Article again empowers the Governor to dissolve Provincial Assembly subject to the approval of the President, where he is of the opinion, that after having been passed a vote of no confidence against the Chief Minister, there is no other member of the Provincial Assembly to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly, in a session of the Provincial Assembly summoned for the purpose.

Executive Authority of a province

Executive Authority is exercised by the Governor and under Article 105, he shall act in accordance with advice of the cabinet or the Chief Minister.

Appointment and ascertainment of Chief Minister

According to clause 2-A of Article 130, the Governor of a Province invites the member of the Provincial Assembly to be the Chief Minister who commands the confidence of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly as ascertained in the session of the Assembly summoned for the purpose in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.

Powers and functions of Provincial Assembly

There are three major functions or powers of a Provincial Assembly:

To make laws (Article 141 and 142 of the Constitution of Pakistan)
To manage the purse of the province (Article 123 (3))
To keep checks on the policies and practices of the Government (Article 130)

Limitations

One of the major functions of the Provincial Assembly is to make laws as provided in Article 141 and 142 of the Constitution for conferring of functions upon officers or authorities subordinate to the Provincial Governments, Constitutionally. This function is subject to some limitations.

Under Article 142, a Provincial Assembly cannot legislate when an emergency is declared in the country.
A Provincial Assembly cannot make law which is against fundamental rights.
Principles of policy or rule of law should be the base of each law.
A law cannot be enacted if it is not in conformity with the injunctions of Islam.
Under Article 142, the Provincial Assembly cannot legislate on matters which fall in the Federal Legislative List.

Residuary List

The Provincial Assembly has exclusive powers to make law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Federal Legislative List.Residuary matters are exclusively within Provincial autonomy. From the above, it cannot be extracted that the Province is subordinate to the Federation or Federation is subordinate to Province. In fact, legislative powers are distributed between Federation and Provinces via Article 142. And one institution cannot take over powers of other institution. However, this provincial law making power comes to an end and shifts to the Federation during emergency when declared vide Articles 232, 233 or 234.

Manager of purse of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa

The second important function of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa under Article 123 (3) is that it acts as a manager or custodian of the purse of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa.

Provincial Consolidated Fund

No expenditure from the Provincial Consolidated Fund is deemed to be duly authorised unless it is specified in the schedule so authenticated and is laid before the Provincial Assembly. Provincial Assembly exercises checks over executive through control over the Finance. Article 119 provides custody and withdrawal of money from Provincial Consolidated Fund, (defined in Article 118) and public accounts of a Province, unless it is regulated by the Act of the Provincial Assembly.

Annual and supplementary Budget statement

Provisions given under Article 120 dealing with annual budget statement and Article 124 dealing with supplementary budget or excess grant become effective, when it is approved by the Provincial Assembly.

Approval of budgets

Article 122(2) and Article 124 authorise Provincial Assembly to approve or refuse any demand and reduce the amount specified in the demand. Once budget is approved, the Government has no right to deviate from these sanctions. For excess expenditure, Government has to seek regularization from the Assembly. Similarly under Article 88 read with Article 127, accounts and audit reports of the Government are further scrutinized by the public accounts Committee of the Assembly.

To keep checks on the policies and practices of the Government

The significance of Provincial Assembly is that it is a representative institution and keeps checks upon policies, practices and performance of the Government. Article 130 (4) says that the Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to the Provincial Assembly.

Devices of accountability

Issues relating to Public interest are raised by the Members for discussion in the House in the form of questions, adjournment motions, call attention notices, general discussion, resolutions and various Reports.

The Members make the Executive accountable to the legislature through these devices according to the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa, 1997.

Members Support Programme

This programme is meant to serve Members of the Provincial Assembly in different areas. They are provided legislative help in drafting private members bills. They are provided useful and informative books. An Internet facility is also available to them, and through Internet research they can polish their ideas.

To provide these facilities to the Members, in 1997 the Research and Reference Division was formed. It was established to provide information to the Members when needed, and to collect up-to-date information from the resources available. The Library and Computer Sections were included in this division. It was also meant to provide help to the representatives in legislative procedures, such as the drafting of a bill. Prior to the establishment of the Research and Reference Wing, this service was performed by the Legislation Branch. Salman Said

Automation Section and Library Section

The primary function of Library Section is to provide data to the Members and to the Research Section. Information such as the Assembly's agenda, date of next sitting, schedule of committee meetings and information about Members is available due to installation of the latest PBX. The Assembly Secretariat has stored vital information in the computer and it is accessible from anywhere around the clock.

Moreover, Research and Reference Division has designed a web page to provide information to the Members about the Assembly Secretariat and proceedings of the Assembly including its schedule and agenda, and a summary of its proceedings. This web page also includes the procedural rules for the Provincial Assembly of Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa and some other important laws of the country.

Elections

	Provincial 1951 elections
Total seats	85
Muslim League	67
Jinnah Awami League	4
Independents	13
Minority seats	1

In the 2002 elections , Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal

Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is a coalition of Islamist parties that was formed in 2002 to electorally challenge the Pakistan Parliament's incumbent parties...

had won 53 of the seats , ANP 15 , and PPP 10 seats.

The elections of 2008 resulted in the Awami National Party

Awami National Party

The Awami National Party is an Pashtun nationalist, socialist, centre-left political party in Pakistan affiliated with Socialist International...

and Pakistan Peoples Party