ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2020: The Senate Session was prorogued on Wednesday after adopting recommendations on the Finance Bill, 2020 as reported by the Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during ninth (last) sitting of 299^th session:

 Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 49 minutes.
• The sitting started at the scheduled time of 1600 hours.
• The Chairman presided over the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Chairman was not present.
• The Leader of the House attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The Prime Minister did not attend the sitting.
• As many as 12 lawmakers (11%) were present at the outset and 16 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PkMAP and BNP-M attended the sitting.
• Two out of four minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• Tabled by JI lawmaker, the House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to write the words of `Khatam an-Nabiyyin’ after the name of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in all educational textbooks and official documents.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs presented report of the Committee on the proposals for making recommendations on the Finance Bill, 2020 containing the Annual Budget Statement which was adopted by the House. The committee proposed 40 amendments and 53 general consensus recommendations in the Finance Bill 2020.
• Chairman Standing Committee on Law and Justice presented reports of the Committee on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (Amendment of Articles 51 and 106) and the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2020 (Amendment of Article 45).

Representation and Responsiveness

• Four lawmakers participated in discussion on federal budget consuming an hour and five minutes. The Minister for Industries and Production concluded debate on it and spoke for 15 minutes.
• Thirteen lawmakers spoke on matters of public importance for 37 minutes.

 Order and Institutionalization

• Eight lawmakers spoke on points of order for 17 minutes.
• The session was prorogued sine die.

Transparency

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