ISLAMABAD, May 17, 2018: The National Assembly could not proceed to pass the Finance Bill, 2018 amidst lack of quorum on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during the 13th sitting of the 56th session:
Members’ Participation
- The National Assembly met for five hours and 32 minutes while the proceedings remained suspended for an hour and 43 minutes due to lack of quorum.
- The sitting started at 1130 hours against the scheduled time of 1030 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 13 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) did not attend the sitting.
- The Opposition Leader was present for an hour and 21 minutes.
- As many as 20 lawmakers (6%) were present at the outset and 67 (20%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The parliamentary leaders of PML, QWP, APML, PPPP, JI and AJIP attended the sitting.
- Five minority lawmakers were present.
Output
- The House approved 23 demands for grants pertaining to different ministries and departments for the next fiscal year while remaining 128 demands for grants were approved during last two days.
- The Leader of the Opposition presented reports of Public Accounts Committee on Accounts of Federation for the year 93-94, 200-2003 and 2009-2010.
- The House took up the Finance Bill, 2018 but it could not be passed due to lack of quorum pointed out during clause by clause reading of the bill.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Fifteen lawmakers expressed their reservations on the Finance Bill, 2018 and spoke for two hours and 35 minutes. Minister for Finance spoke for four minutes and responded to their queries.
Order and Institutionalization
- Six lawmakers spoke on as many points of order for 11 minutes.
- A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1140 hours that led to the adjournment of the proceedings for an hour and 33 minutes.
- The Opposition lawmakers walked out of the House for 17 minutes against the government for presenting budget of next fiscal year (2018-19) despite completion of its tenure on May 31, 2018.
- A PPPP lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1647 hours following which the Chair ordered the headcount that led to the suspension of the proceedings for 10 minutes. The sitting resumed at 1659 hours but it had to be suspended due to presence of less than 25 percent lawmakers in the House.
- The sitting was adjourned to meet again on May 18, 2018 (Friday) at 1000 hours.
Transparency
- Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted.