NA Meets for Ten Hours, 24 Mins; Debates Federal Budget

ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2020: The National Assembly met for ten hours and 24 minutes on Monday and consumed major portion of the proceedings in debate on the federal budget 2020-21, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during eleventh sitting of 22nd  session of NA:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for ten hours and 24 minutes.
  • The proceedings started at 1207 hours against the scheduled time of 1200 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 12 minutes, Deputy Speaker for two hours and 39 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
  • The Leaders of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition did not attend the sitting.
  • A total of 33 lawmakers (10%) were present at the outset and 23 (7%) at the adjournment of the sitting. As per SOPs, 46 lawmakers of the government and 40 members of the opposition parties would attend each sitting during the ongoing budget session while the overall attendance to be marked at the main gate of the National Assembly.
  • Five out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings. 

Output

  • Tabled by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, the House adopted a resolution to write the words of `Khatam an-Nabiyyin’ after the name of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).

 Representation and Responsiveness

  • Forty-four lawmakers took part in the general discussion on the federal budget for the year 2020-21. The discussion consumed nine hours and 45 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Advisor to Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and a PTI lawmaker spoke on points of order for six minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 23, 2020 (Tuesday) 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’s proceedings, conducted by the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted