ISLAMABAD, June 14, 2021: The Punjab Finance Minister presented the annual budget for financial year 2021-22 in the provincial assembly amid opposition’s protest, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during the first sitting of the 33rd session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for an hour and 30 minutes.
• The sitting started at 04:31 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the entire sitting
• The deputy speaker was also present.
• The leader of the House (chief minister) attended the sitting for an hour and 27 minutes while the opposition leader was also present.
• As many as 210 MPAs (57 percent) were present at the outset and 250 (67 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• Both the parliamentary leaders of PPPP and PRHP attended the sitting.
• Six out of eight minority lawmakers was present.

Output

• Provincial Minister for Finance introduced the Punjab Finance Bill, 2021 and presented the Annual Budget Statement for the financial year 2021-2022. He made a 52-minute long statement on the annual budgetary proposals of the government.
• Provincial Minister for Finance minister presented the Supplementary Budget Statement for the year 2020-2021 and also laid the amendments in the rules under section 76 of the Punjab Sales Tax on Services Act 2012.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The opposition lawmakers protested during the budget speech of the Minister for Finance.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Thursday, June 17, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘List of Business’ was available on Punjab Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on Punjab 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