ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2013: The general discussion on the budget continued during the fourth sitting of the second session as 15 members expressed views on the budgetary proposals on Monday.

A total of 98 members were present at the start and 43 at the adjournment of the sitting, which met for six hours and 40 minutes.

Fifteen members participated in the budget debate. Five PPPP members addressed the house for 64 minutes, followed by two members each of PTI (47 minutes), JUIF (23 minutes) and PMLN (16 minutes). A single member each of PkMAP (41 minutes), QWP (34 minutes), JI (14 minutes) and MQM (14 minutes) also spoke on the finance bill.

The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition was present for an hour and 47 minutes. The Finance Minister attended the sitting for two hours and five minutes. The Speaker presided over the proceedings for three hours and 35 minutes. The Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.

A Calling Attention Notice on not completing construction work on Mandra-Chakwal and Sohawa-Chakwal National Highways was taken up by the house.

Lawmakers raised seven Points of Order consuming 45 minutes. The Interior Minister spoke about the attack on the Ziarat Residency and the acts of terrorism in Quetta.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for six hours and 40 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1040 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1030 hours, witnessing the delay 10 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for three hours and 35 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 47 minutes.
• The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics and Privatization attended the sitting for two hours and five minutes.
• A total of 98 members were present at the start and 43 at the adjournment of the sitting. A maximum of 174 members were present at one point of sitting.
• Eight minority members attended the sitting.
• Eleven members applied for leave.
• The House took a break of an hour and 20 minutes.

Representation and Responsiveness

• One Calling Attention Notice on not completing construction work on Mandra-Chakwal and Sohawa-Chakwal National Highways was taken up by the house.

Output

• The budget debate lasted four hours and 13 minutes. Five members of PPPP addressed the house for 64 minutes, followed by two members each of PTI (47 minutes), JUIF (23 minutes) and PMLN (16 minutes). A single member each of PkMAP (41 minutes), QWP (34 minutes), JI (14 minutes) and MQM (14 minutes) also spoke on the finance bill.

Order and Institutionalization

• Seven points of order consumed 45 minutes of the sitting time. None of the points of order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• No protests were witnessed during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was not available to the observers and the public.
• Copies of the budget speech were available to the legislators.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the National Assembly proceedings conducted by Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI); a member organization of FAFEN