National Assembly Discusses Federal Budget 2020-21

ISLAMABAD, June 19, 2020: The National Assembly held general discussion on the Annual Budget 2020-21 on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its daily Factsheet.

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

 Members’ Participation

  • The House met for an hour and 49 minutes.
  • The proceedings started at 1107 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for 46 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Leader of the House (Prime Minister) and the Opposition Leader did not attend the sitting.
  • A total of 18 lawmakers (5%) were present at the outset and 38 (11%) 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.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PML-N and BAP attended the sitting.
  • Three out of 10 minority lawmakers were also present during the proceedings.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Three lawmakers took part in the debate on annual budget 2020-21. The discussion continued for an hour and 33 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A PPPP lawmaker spoke on a point of order for two minutes.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 22, 2020 (Monday) at 1200 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