ISLAMABAD, June 14, 2019: The Provincial Minister for Finance presented the provincial budget 2019-20 in the House amid protest by the opposition during his speech on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during second sitting of the 10^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for 43 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1528 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present during the proceedings.
• The Leaders of the House attended the proceedings for 41 minutes.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for 36 minutes. He was released from NAB custody to attend the House proceedings on production orders issued by the Speaker.
• As many as 90 MPAs (24%) were present at the outset and 280 (75%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
•  As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The Provincial Minister for Finance presented annual budget statement for the year 2019-2020. His budget speech consumed 34 minutes of the proceedings.
• He also presented the supplementary budget statement for the year 2018-2019 and introduced the Punjab finance bill 2019.
• The amendments in the Second Schedule and Rules under sections 5 and 76 of the Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act 2012 was also laid in the House.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Oppositions lawmakers protested during the entire budget speech of the Provincial Minister for Finance.
•  The House was adjourned to meet again on June 17, 2019 (Monday) at 1500 hours.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Assembly’s website.
  

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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