**The Glossary is being updated

Absolute Majority – more than half the votes of the total membership of the Assembly;

Abstain – to refrain from voting for or against a motion;

Act – a Bill passed by the Assembly and assented to by the Governor;

Adjournment – to suspend proceedings to another time;

Adjournment Sine Die – to suspend the proceedings without fixing a time or date for the next meeting;

Adjournment Motion – a motion to adjourn the business of the Assembly for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of immediate, urgent public importance;

Adjournment of Debate – Postponement of a debate on a Motion/Resolution/Bill on which the Assembly is then engaged to some other time or date;

 Amending Act – an Act of Assembly whose sole purpose is to modify another Act or Acts;

Amendment – a motion to amend an earlier motion before that earlier motion is put to the Assembly for decision;

Ayes and Noes – the word used for voting ayes for ‘yes’ and noes for ‘no’ in the Assembly;

Backbenchers – the members other than Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Advisors and Special Assistants;

Bicameral – a Legislature that consists of two Houses; the Parliament of Pakistan is
bi-cameral consisting of Senate and National Assembly, while in the provinces it is unicameral;

By-election – it is held when a seat in the Assembly becomes vacant during its lifetime (i.e. between two general elections) due to death, resignation, unseating or disqualification of a member;

Bill – a proposal for making a new law or amending an existing one;

Budget – the statement of the estimated receipts and expenditures of the Federal or a Provincial Government for a fiscal year which the said government should lay before an Assembly in every financial year;

Business – any matter which can be brought before the Assembly under the Constitution and the Rules;

Cabinet – it consists of Ministers, with the Chief Minister at its head

Call Attention Notice – a notice by which a matter of public importance may be raised;

Casting Vote – a deciding vote used by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly, when the votes on both sides are equal;

Chair – the Presiding Officer at a meeting of the House or a committee;

Chamber – the place where the Assembly meets to transact its business;

Chief Whip – a member of a political party in an Assembly whose primary task is to ensure the presence and discipline of the members of the party in the Assembly;

Clause (of a bill) – divisions of a Bill consisting of an individual sentence or statement; once a Bill becomes law, its clauses are referred to as sections;

Clause-by-Clause Consideration – the stage for consideration of a Bill when it is considered clause by clause and at this stage amendment can be proposed in the clauses of the Bill;

Closure – it is one of the means by which a debate may be brought to a close by a majority decision of the Assembly, even though all members wishing to speak have not done so;

Committee – group of members who are nominated by the Assembly for special purpose or subject;

Constitution – the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973;

Constituency – a constituency for Assembly delimited under the Delimitation of Constituencies Act, 1974 (XXXIV of 1974);

Constituent – a registered voter in a constituency;

Cut motions – a motion moved by a member to reduce the amount of a demand for grant or omit or reduce an item in a demand;

Debate – a discussion in which the arguments for or against a subject are presented in the Assembly according to rules;

Dissolution – the bringing to an end of an Assembly, either on the expiry of its five-year term or otherwise in accordance with the provision of the Constitution;

Division – a mode of voting by dividing members into two groups (ayes and noes) in order to reach a decision;

Division Bell – the Speaker will order a Division if voting by voice is challenged and shall direct that the Division bells be rung for two minutes to enable members not present in the chamber to return to their places;

Election – the process of choosing a representative by vote;

Ex-Officio Member – generally taken to be a person, who, by virtue of an office or position held, is officially attached to a committee;

Expunction – words used in debates, which are defamatory, indecent, un-parliamentary or un-dignified, the speaker may, in his discretion, either during the debate or subsequently, order that such words be expunged from the proceedings;

Provincial Consolidated Fund and Public Account – all revenues received by the Provincial Government, all loans raised by that Government, and all moneys received by it in repayment or any loan, shall form part of a consolidated fund, to be known as the Provincial Consolidated Fund.

All other moneys received by or on behalf of the Provincial Government; or received by or deposited with the Supreme Court or High Court or any other court established under the authority of the Province; shall be credited to the Public Account of the Province;

Finance Bill – the Bill introduced in each year to give effect to the financial proposals of the Government for the next financial year, and includes a Bill to give effect to Supplementary financial proposals for any period;

Fiscal Year – the twelve month period, from July 1 to June 30, used by the Government for budgetary and accounting purposes;

Floor of the House – the part of the Chamber of the Assembly reserved for the Members and the officials of the Assembly;

Galleries – areas in the Assembly set aside for the public, the press and distinguished visitors;

Gazette – the official Gazette of the Province;

Leader of the House – means the  Chief Minister or the most senior Minister  designated as such by the Chief Minister or in the absence of both any other Minister acting as such to represent Government and regulate Government business in the Assembly;

Leader of Opposition – a member who, in the opinion of the Speaker, is the leader in the House of the largest Party in the Opposition;

Legislation – the process of making a law;

Legislative Process – the process by which bills are approved by Assembly and become laws after the assent of the  Governor;

Limitation of Debate – a procedure preventing further adjournment of debate on any motion or on any stage of a Bill and requiring that the motion come to a vote at the end of the sitting in which it is invoked;

List of Business – the list of business to be brought before the Assembly or Committee for consideration and decision at its sitting on any day;

Lobby – means the covered corridor immediately adjoining the Chamber and conterminous with it;

Guillotine – a provision in the rules which requires that the Assembly reach a decision on a given matter by a particular date or at the end of a specified period of time. It is not preceded by a motion;

Maiden speech – the first speech of a member after his election for the first time. It is a parliamentary convention that a member making a maiden speech is not interrupted by another member;

Majlis-e-Shoora – also referred to as the Parliament, it comprises the National Assembly, Senate and the President under Article 50 of the Constitution;

Member – a member of the Assembly and for purposes of moving or opposing a Bill, an amendment, a motion or a resolution, includes a Minister;

Member-in-Charge – the member who introduces a Bill in the Assembly;

Minister – it means  the Chief Minister or a  minister of Government;

Minutes – are the instant written record of a meeting;

Money Bill – a Bill or amendment which if enacted and brought into operation would involve expenditure from the Provincial Consolidated Fund or withdrawal from the Public Account of the Province.

Mover – the member who initiates a resolution, a motion or an amendment of a Bill;

Motion – a proposal made by a member or a minister relating to any matter which may be discussed and decided by the Assembly;

No-Confidence Motion – a motion moved against the  Chief Minister, Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly that he has lost confidence of the majority of the Assembly;

Oath of Office – swearing by a member before taking seat in the Assembly

Opposition – the party or parties which do not belong to the ruling party;

Out of Order – the expression may be applied to motions, Bills or to any intervention which runs contrary to the rules or procedures of the Assembly;

Panel of Chairmen – panel of members nominated by the Speaker  to preside over the session of the Assembly in his absence;

Point of Order – a point raised during proceedings of the Assembly and relates to the interpretation or enforcement of the rules or procedure of the Assembly or such Articles of the Constitution that regulate the business of the Assembly and shall raise a question which is within the cognizance of the Speaker;

Precedent – a Speaker’s  past ruling or practice of the Assembly taken as a rule for subsequent cases of a similar nature but not all decisions and practices constitute precedents;

Precincts of the Assembly – it includes the Chamber, the Lobbies and the Galleries of the Assembly and such other places as specified from time to time by the Presiding Officer;

Presiding Officer – in relation to a sitting of the Assembly, means any person who is conducting that sitting;

Press Gallery – a gallery in the Assembly reserved for accredited members of the media;

Private Member’s Bill – is a proposed law introduced by a private member;

Private Member – a member who is not a Minister, an Advisor or a Parliamentary Secretary;

Proceedings – the actions taken by the Assembly or by a committee, the most important parts of the proceedings are the decisions that are taken;

Prorogue – it ends a session of Assembly, but does not dissolve it;

Public Petitions-Petition relating to a Bill presented by the Public to the Assembly for consideration of Committee on Petitions or any matter connected with business pending before a Committee or any matter of general public interest;

Put the Question – to put a motion before the Assembly to a vote;

Question – subject to the provisions of the rules, a question may be asked for the purpose of obtaining information on a matter of public concern within the special cognizance of the Minister to whom it is addressed;

Question Hour – a time fixed under the rules for asking/answering questions;

Question of privilege – a member may, with the consent of the Speaker, raise a question involving a breach of privilege either of a member or of the Assembly or of a Committee;

Questions to Private Members – a question may be addressed to a private member provided the subject-matter of the question relates to some Bill, resolution or other matter connected with the business of the Assembly for which that member is responsible;

Quorum – is the minimum number of members of Assembly necessary to conduct the business of the Assembly. Under Article 55(2) of the Constitution, 1/4^th of the total membership of the Assembly is required for Quorum;

Quorum Call – to draw the attention of the Presiding Officer to the absence of a quorum;

Referral to a Committee – the sending of a Bill, a resolution, a question or any other matter to a committee for study and report. Depending on the objectives of the referral, it may be made to a standing or special committee or to a Committee of the Assembly;

Resolution – a motion for the purpose of discussing and expressing opinion on a matter of general public interest and includes a resolution specified in the Constitution;

Roll of Members – a register in which newly elected members sign, after making the oath and before taking their seats for the first time in the Assembly. It is kept on the Table of the Assembly;

 Rules – the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of an Assembly;

Secretary – the highest ranking officer of the Assembly;

Sergeant-at-Arms – is an officer appointed by a Speaker to carry out his order in respect to keep order in the Assembly;

Session – the period commencing on the day of the first sitting of the Assembly after having been summoned and ending on the day the Assembly is prorogued or dissolved;

Sitting – a meeting of the Assembly or that of a Committee on a day;

Speaker – is the head of a legislature who is elected from amongst the member through secret ballot and performs function as mentioned in Constitution;

Starred Question – a question for an oral answer;

State – The state, under Article 7 of the Constitution means the Federal Government, Parliament, a Provincial Government, a Provincial Assembly, and such local or other authorities in as are by law empowered to impose any form of tax

Subcommittee – a Committee may, appoint a sub-committee, for a specified function arising out of the matter referred to the Committee;

Supplementary Budget an expenditure statement introduced to provide funds to the Government to meet new or additional expenses in a fiscal year;

Table – means the Table of the Assembly;

Un-starred question – a question for a written answer.

Verbatim – the official reports without any editing initially transcribed by Reporters;