Drop in private bills, rise in ordinances in Senate in 2024-25: Pildat
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Inside view of the Senate of Pakistan. — Radio Pakistan/File
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ISLAMABAD: In the Senate’s 2024-2025 performance analysis, the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has mentioned a change in legislative dynamics, highlighting the rapid decline in private members’ bills and increasing ordinances, while increasing the number of issues, but the number of seats.
Poldit’s report is a cause for concern over the transparency of the “Senate of Pakistan-Parliamentary Year 2024-25” procedure and the Senate representative.
During 2024-2025, the Senate passed 51 bills, including 34 government bills and 17 private members bills.
In 34 government bills, 12 were introduced in the Senate and 22 from the National Assembly. Compared to 2023-2024, when the Senate passed 49 official bills, which reduces about 30.6 %.
In the past years, the Senate passed 18 official bills in 2022-2023, 27 in 2021-2022, 8 in 2020-2021, and 19 in 2019-2020. However, private members’ legislative activity has decreased by 63.8 % over the previous year.
During 2024-2025, the Senate passed a total of 17 private members bills, of which 11 started in the Senate and six moved from the National Assembly. It represents a 63.8 % reduction over the 2023-2024 parliamentary year, when the Senate passed 47 private members bills. In the past years, the Senate approved 19 private member bills in 2022-2023, 13 in 2021-2022, 16 in 2020-2021, and 12 in 2019-2020.
The rapid decline in 2024-2025 indicates a significant departure from the previous trend of increasing legislation activities on private members’ bills.
The government’s dependence on the ordinances also increased, 16 ordinances were placed in the Senate, which dramatically increased from the only ordinance introduced in 2023-2024.
The Senate held 65 seats, which reflects a 14 % increase over the previous year, but the work hours decreased by 20.3 %, which changed the benefits.
In 2024-2025, the Senate met for 65 days, which reflects a 14 % increase over 2023-2024, when the Senate met for 57 days.
In the past years, the Senate met 57 days in 2022-2023, 56 days in 2021-2022, 60 days in 2020-2021, and 65 days in 2019-2020. The increase in working days in 2024-2025 marks the highest number of Senate seats in the last five years, which matches the 2019-2020 level.
What is worth noting is that the report does not exclude the joint seats of Parliament.
The Senate needs to meet for less than 110 days in the constitutional year and there will be no more than 120 days between any two sessions.
At least three sessions of the Senate need to be held in parliamentary years and parliamentary years, in 2024-2025, the Senate completed its constitutional requirement and met for 111 days.
In 2024-2025, the Senate met for 117 hours and 22 minutes, which reflects a 20.3 % reduction in 2023-2024 compared to 147 hours and 13 minutes.
In 2022-2023, the total work hours of the Senate were 132 hours and 51 minutes, while in previous years, the Senate met 161 hours in 2021-2022 and 183 hours and 45 minutes in 202021, which showed a general decline over time.
The average period of the Senate sitting in 2024-2025 has decreased compared to the previous year, which shows that the overall legislative hour has decreased.
The shift has an upset bridge of the improvement in 2023-2024 when the work hours increased after the trend. In 2024-25, work hours represented at least hours in the last 6 years.
Attendance rates have improved, senators’ average is 62 % attendance. However, quorum problems are a cause for concern, as 16 seats were postponed due to insufficient attendance.
The House leader recorded a low attendance rate 28 %, the lowest in six years, while the opposition leader showed a strong engagement with 80 % attendance.
The relative low attendance of the House leader, Senator Ishaq Dar, can be attributed to foreign travel and engagement with foreign honorees as he is also the Foreign Minister’s portfolio and is also the Deputy Prime Minister.
During 2024-2025, opposition leader Senator Syed Shobi Faraz, (KP, PTI) emerged as the most vocal senator with an 11-hour and 26-minute recorded talk time.
After that, Senator Prime Minister Nazir Tarar (Punjab, Muslim League N) spoke for 10 hours and 56 minutes, Senator Syed Ali Zafar (Punjab, PTI), who spoke for 4 hours and 32 minutes and was third, Senator Emal Wali Khan, (Balochson, Annip) and 56 minutes.
The report also highlights critical political progress, including continuous vacant space for 11 Senate seats in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has raised concerns over provincial representation.
In addition, the 26th Constitutional Amendment has further strengthened the production orders, disputes to ignore judicial reforms, and the rapid expansion of military chiefs.
The Senate’s State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) bill tackling the vote also led to a protest against opposition to justice of the procedure. These results indicate the Senate’s progressive role in Pakistan’s rule, which increases political competition, which creates legislation and procedure dynamics.
The report calls for maximum transparency, the integrity of the procedure, and a commitment to democratic representation in the upper house.
