ISLAMABAD, June 18, 2021: The Punjab Assembly continued general discussion on provincial budget 2021-22 and 25 lawmakers took part in the debate, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) its Daily Factsheet on Friday.

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

Members’ Participation

• The House met for four hours and 58 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:38 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker was absent.
• The deputy speaker chaired the sitting for an hour and 22 minutes, while a member of panel of chairpersons chaired the rest of the proceedings.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) and the opposition leader did not attend the proceedings.
• As many as 25 MPAs (seven percent) were present at the outset and 20 (five percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leader of PPPP attended the proceedings.
• As many as five out of eight minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Twenty-five lawmakers – PTI (12), PMLN (11) and one each from PML and PPPP – took part in debate on the provincial annual budget 2021-22. They spoke on it four hours and 32 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

• Minister for Prisons Department walked out from the House at 04:21 pm when the chair did not allow him to raise a point of order.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 10:00 am.

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