ISLAMABAD, June 18, 2021: The Provincial Government debated the budget statement for the financial year 2021-22 on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 11th sitting of the 21st session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 03:15 pm against the scheduled time of 02:00 pm.
• The speaker chaired the proceedings for an hour and 58 minutes while the deputy speaker presided over the rest of the sitting.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) was absent.
• The opposition leader attended the proceedings for an hour and two minutes.
• As many as 45 MPAs (27 percent) were present at the outset and 26 (15 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, GDA, and MMAP were present while the leader of TLP did not attend the sitting.
• Eight out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Thirteen lawmakers – PPPP (8), PTI (3) and GDA (2) – participated in general discussion on budget for the financial year 2021-22 as well as supplementary budget for the financial year 2020-21. They consumed two hours and 45 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• A PTI lawmaker spoke on a point of order for one minute related to non-provision of hard copies of complete budget documents.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 12:00 pm.

Transparency                                                              

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

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted