ISLAMABAD: The federal budget 2021-22 was adopted with a majority vote of 172 lawmakers by the National Assembly on Tuesday as Prime Minister Imran Khan also attended the proceedings.
The Finance bill 2021-22 was presented before the National Assembly by Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and initially, the speaker sought a nod on the bill through a voice vote, however, later over the opposition’s demand, he held an in-person vote.
During the counting process, 138 members of the opposition voted against the Finance bill as compared to 172 lawmakers of the treasury supporting it, paving way for the approval of the federal budget.
The NA session will resume tomorrow at 11:30am.
The session was first chaired by Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, after which Speaker Asad Qaiser presided over the session and Qasim Suri joined the members so he may become part of the total strength.
Prime Minister Imran Khan, former President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other Opposition members were present in Parliament.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin introduced the Finance Amendment Bill 2021 in the House which has been opposed by the Opposition.
The House took verbal approval of the motion to introduce the Finance Bill which was challenged by Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur of the PPP after which the Speaker directed for the count of votes to begin.
After the completion of the counting process in the House, the National Assembly passed the motion to introduce the Finance Bill by a majority vote. There were 172 votes in favour of the Finance Bill while 138 votes were against it.
Following the approval of the motion in the House, the process of getting a clause-wise approval of the Finance Bill 2021 began.
Among the House’s business for today was also the amendment of certain clauses within the bill.
One of the amendments in the bill pertains to an added clause, under which MNAs will now be provided vouchers instead of air tickets. This amendment was met with no objection by the Opposition.
Earlier, PPP MNA Nafeesa Shah criticised the government’s budget measures, saying that the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) was being “turned into another NAB (National Accountability Bureau)”.
Shah said that no one should allow the FBR to be given the powers of judge and jury, adding that some points in the budget were too vague to understand.
PML-N MNA Khurram Dastagir lashed out at the government, saying that its proposed financial policies “target” the middle and poor classes.
“The government will not be able to achieve its tax collection target next year,” he said. “The summary of the government’s economic policy is this: the rich remain satisfied while the poor are in pain,” he added.
The PML-N lawmaker said that the budget aims to increase sales tax by Rs383bn.
Dastagir also held the government responsible for the recent gas shortage in Karachi.