FY22 Budget passes: Did the Opposition lie?

The National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday passed the budget for the new fiscal year with majority vote amidst the Opposition’s hollow claims of giving the government a tough time.

Prime Minister Imran Khan was present for today’s session, while former president Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were also in attendance.

The Finance Bill 2021-22 was discussed clause by clause in the House. Amendments proposed by treasury members were accepted while those proposed by the Opposition members were rejected.

After the clause by clause reading was completed, a voice vote was conducted by the NA Speaker and the budget was passed.

The Opposition did not challenge the voice vote since they did not have the required numbers.

There were 172 votes in favour of the Finance Bill while 138 votes were against it. Meanwhile, senior Journalist, Hamid Mir claims that the total strength of the Opposition members in NA is 163 members. 25 opposition members were not present in the NA today,12 were from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and13 from other opposition parties.

Earlier this month, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Bilawal Bhutto had rejected the budget and vowed to give a tough time to the government inside the parliament.