ISLAMABAD, October 25, 2018: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab was prorogued on Thursday after the passage of the Finance Bill, 2018, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during sixth (last) sitting of the third (budget) session:
Members’ Participation
- The Assembly met for 55 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1202 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
- The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 45 minutes.
- The Leader of the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
- The Finance Minister attended the entire sitting.
- As many as 137 MPAs (37%) were present at outset and 185 (50%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- None of the parliamentary leaders attended the sitting.
- As many as four out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Output
- The House approved the treasury’s 43 Demand for Grants without any discussion. The opposition lawmakers had submitted cut motions on five of these demands; however, these motions lapsed due to absence of the concerned lawmakers.
- Presented by Minister for Finance, the House passed the Finance Bill 2018.
- The Minister for Finance also laid before the House the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year 2018-2019.
- The House did not take five ordinances appearing on the agenda.
Representation and Responsiveness
- The Chief Minister made a three-minute long statement following the passage of the budget thanking the members and the staff of the Assembly Secretariat.
- The Speaker also made a three-minute long statement appreciating the Prime Minister for his trip to Saudi Arabia.
Order and Institutionalization
- The lawmakers belonging to PML-N continued their boycott of the House proceedings.
- The House was prorogued sine die.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
The daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by PATTAN Development Organization – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are regretted.