ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2015: The National Assembly adopted 94 Demands for Grants of different departments during 11^th sitting of the 23^rd session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

On the other hand, the opposition moved cut motions on 49 Demands for Grants for the departments of Communications, Cabinet Division, Water and Power, Food and Agriculture, Petroleum and Natural Resources, Foreign Affairs and Interior, which will be discussed in the next sitting.

The House discussed the Charged Expenditure included in the Demands for Grants and Appropriations for the financial year ending on June 30, 2016 while the Minister for Finance spoke on it for 35 minutes. Earlier, thirteen lawmakers- PTI (5), PPP (3), JI (2) and one each of PkMAP, AMLP and MQM- debated the Charged Expenditure for 123 minutes.

MQM lawmakers walked out of the House for five minutes against the statement of the Defence Minister.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The National Assembly met for four hours and 38 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1030 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The House held lunch and prayer break for 57 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker attended the sitting for 135 minutes.
• 38 members (11%) were present at the start and 75 (22%) at the time of adjournment.
• A maximum of 140 members (41%) were present during one point of the sitting.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 137 minutes.
• The Finance Minister was present for 99% (234 minutes) of the sitting time.
• The parliamentary leaders of AMLP, PkMAP, JI, BNP, APML, PML-Z and QWP were present.
• Ten minority members attended the proceedings.
• Sixteen members applied for leave.

Output

• The House approved 94 Demands for Grants of different departments.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House discussed the Charged Expenditure included in the Demands for Grants and Appropriations for the financial year ending on June 30, 2016.
• Thirteen lawmakers- PTI (5), PPP (3), JI (2) and one each of PkMAP, AMLP and MQM- debated it for 123 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• The lawmakers raised four points of order that consumed seven minutes of the sitting.
• MQM lawmakers walked out of the House for five minutes against the statement of the Defence Minister.

Transparency

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

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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. Errors and omissions are excepted.