As coronavirus cases continue to increase across the country, the government and the opposition have agreed to hold the budget session with the minimum number required to maintain quorum in the House.
According to the agreement, 46 lawmakers of the government and 40 lawmakers of the opposition parties would attend the session. During the parliamentary session, all standard operating procedures (SOPs) with regard to prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic, including social distancing norms would also be adopted.
According to the Rule 5 of the lower house, it is necessary to have to one-fourth of the total membership of the assembly to continue the session because if the speaker’s attention is drawn to the fact that the quorum is not being maintained then he has to suspend the sitting.
The NA consists of a total of 342 members of which 272 are directly elected through general election. 70 MNAs are indirectly elected on reserved seats for women and religious minorities. One-fourth of 342 members is around 86.
NA Speaker Asad Qaiser held a meeting with the parliamentary leaders over the upcoming budget session.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Babar Awan, Pervez Khattak and Khalid Magsi have represented the government in the meeting while the opposition was represented by Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Naveed Qamar, Maulana Asad Ali Muhammad Khan, Rana Sanaullah, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Khawaja Asif. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Speaker Qasim Khan Suri.
Qaiser said that 14 lawmakers of the lower house have tested positive for coronavirus so far while he and his family members had also been infected previously. He urged the lawmakers to formulate a strategy to hold the upcoming session with precautions.
Qureshi said that the coming days could be difficult as the infections were consistently increasing across the country. Qamar suggested that only 50 lawmakers should be present when the budget is presented in the House.
The participants of the meeting held consultations for the upcoming session of budget with precautionary measures against Covid-19.
Later, the dialogue between the government and the opposition became successful as the opposition leader agreed to the demand of holding debate on five points in the parliament.
They agreed to hold debate on sugar and wheat crises, coronavirus, locust attacks and other important issues, whereas the question hour and attention notices would be suspended in the upcoming session.
