ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2021: The Senate passed a motion to adopt 114 recommendations on the Finance Bill, 2021, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 7th sitting of 312th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for five hours and 15 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 20 minutes due to prayer break.
• The sitting started 04:05 pm against the scheduled time of 04:00 pm.
• The chairman presided over the proceedings for an hour and 20 minutes, while the remaining sitting was chaired by the deputy chairman.
• The leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The leader of the opposition was present for an hour and 45 minutes.
• As many as 45 lawmakers (45 percent) were present at the outset and 10 (10 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, JI and MQMP attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

 Output

• Chairman Standing committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs presented the report of the committee on the Finance Bill, 2021, containing the annual budget statement.
• The House proposed 114 recommendations to the National Assembly on the Finance Bill, 2021. Similarly, the House also approved 180 recommendations on the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
• The House witnessed introduction of three bills including the International Court of Justice (Review and Re-consideration) Bill, 2021; the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment of Section 4) and the Muslim Family Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment of Section 7). All these bills were referred to the relevant committees for further consideration.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Eleven lawmakers participated in the budget discussion consuming four hours and 40 minutes of the proceedings.

 Order and Institutionalization

• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, June 25, 2021 at 10:30 am.

Transparency 

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of Senators is available on Senate website.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Senate proceedings conducted by Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN). Errors and omissions are excepted