ISLAMABAD, June 21, 2021: The Punjab Assembly continued debate on provincial annual budget 2021-22 and 60 lawmakers participated in discussion on it, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Monday.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for six hours and 19 minutes.
• The sitting started at 02:53 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• Two members of panel of chairpersons presided over the proceedings in the absence of speaker and deputy speaker.
• The leaders of the House (Chief Minister) and the opposition leader did not attend the proceedings.
• As many as 31 MPAs (eight percent) were present at the outset and 11(three percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• As many as six out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Sixty lawmakers took part in general discussion on the provincial annual budget 2021-22. They spoke on it five hours and 15 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Three lawmakers spoke on points of order for three minutes.
• A PPPP lawmaker sat on floor of the House for 25 minutes in protest when the Chair disallowed him to speak on budget prior to his turn.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at 02:00 pm.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available on Assembly’s website.
• Information on Members’ attendance is available on 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