Bill for increasing Balochistan’sNA, PA seats to be tabled in NA

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday revealed that a bill for increasing the number of National Assembly and Provincial Assembly seats for Balochistan will be introduced during the fresh session of the Senate, proposing addition of another 13 seats to the National Assembly and 30 to the provincial legislature.

Chairman Senate said in the proposed bill there was a consideration to increase number of the National Assembly seats to 30 and that of the Provincial Assembly to 80. He said that there was a need for strong linkages and coordination among the provincial assemblies, National Assembly and the Senate for promoting democratic and parliamentary traditions in the country.

Sanjrani explained consultations were being held with all the parties in the Parliament in this regard and ‘in principle, all parties had shown their interest in giving more representation to the area-wise largest province in the Parliament and of course to its people in the Provincial Assembly. He expressed these views while talking to chairmen of the committees and the officials of Balochistan Assembly, who called on him here at the Parliament House. During the meeting, it was learnt that some legislators pointed out that there was also a need to ponder over Balochistan’s role in election of a prime minister, as presently only two main provinces had the say on this count.

The general seats of Balochistan in the National Assembly are 16. However, one seat fell vacant last month when the Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified the MNA was elected from NA-259 in the last year’s general elections. Its share of reserved seats for women is four. Likewise, the Provincial Assembly consists of a total of 65 seats of these 51 are general seats, whereas eleven are reserved for women and three for minorities.

The members of delegation, who called on the Chairman Senate, are attending a capacity building event tiled Essentials of Effective Committee Performance for the chairs/members of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan at Pakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services (PIPS) organised with the assistance of UNDP.