ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2021: The Punjab Assembly consumed 90 percent of its proceedings in debate on the provincial budget 2021-22, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Saturday.
Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the fourth sitting of the 33rd session:
Members’ Participation
- The House met for five hours and 16 minutes.
- The sitting started at 11:10 am against the scheduled time of 10:00 am.
- Two members of panel of chairpersons presided over the proceedings in the absence of speaker and deputy speaker.
- The leader of the House (Chief Minister) and the opposition leader did not attend the proceedings.
- As many as 25 MPAs (six percent) were present at the outset and 27 (seven percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the proceedings.
- As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Thirty lawmakers took part in debate on the provincial annual budget 2021-22. They spoke on it four hours and 44 minutes.
Order and Institutionalization
- Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for five minutes.
- PML-N lawmakers walked out from the House for 18 minutes when the Chair gave floor to a lawmaker out of turn for speech on budget.
- Another PML-N lawmaker walked out from the House for ten minutes when the Chair disallowed him to speak on the budget from seat allotted to another member.
- PPPP lawmakers walked out from the House at 02:31 pm when the Chair rejected their request to allow one of their colleagues to speak on budget before his turn. They did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
- The House was adjourned to meet again on Monday, June 21, 2021 at 02:00 pm.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
- Information on Members’ attendance is available on Assembly’s website.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Punjab Assembly proceedings conducted by SANGAT Development Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted