ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Punjab concluded the general discussion on annual budget for the year 2019-2020, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 12 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1638 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and nine minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for 54 minutes while a Member of the Panel of the Chairperson chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The Leader of the House and the Leader of Opposition did not attend the proceedings.
• The Finance Minister attended the proceedings for an hour and 27 minutes.
• As many as 60 MPAs (16%) were present at the outset and 120 (32%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• None of the parliamentary leaders attended the proceedings.
• As many as seven out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• The House approved a Demand for Grant for education sector by rejecting cut motion on it. . Eight PML-N lawmakers and the Minister for School education and Higher Education spoke on it for 40 and nine minutes respectively.
• Another Demand for Grant related to Health sector was approved by rejecting cut motion on it. Twelve PML-N lawmakers spoke on it for an hour and 24 minutes and Provincial Minister for Health for ten minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Provincial Minister for Finance concluded the general discussion on the budget 2019-20 and spoke for 20 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Two lawmakers raised Points of Order consuming four minutes of the proceedings.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on June 25, 2019 (Tuesday) 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.