PM Imran Khan in his NA speech, has once again stressed upon the need and significance of EVM inviting the opposition for talks on necessary electoral reforms.
Addressing the lower house on Wednesday (today), PM Imran Khan accentuated the need to adopt electronic voting and via electronic voting machines (EVMs) in order to ensure free, fair and transparent elections.
The prime minister noted that every election since 1970 has been controversial including the recent by-polls and Senate Elections too.
EVMs are the only solution to ensure that election results are acceptable for everyone, said PM Imran Khan.
The premier invited all opposition parties to engage in a constructive dialogue with government over electoral reforms while reassuring that any reservations and concerns by the opposition on the issue will be duly addressed.
The government is ready to listen if the opposition has proposals for electoral reform, said PM Imran Khan.
Expressing his views on the budget, the prime minister felicitated finance minister Shaukat Tarin and his team for preparing such a budget and also expressed gratitude to all treasury bench members for ensuring full support and securing budget approval.
PM Imran Khan also said that his government is introducing universal health insurance in the country, and all citizens will be given a health card to avail free medical treatment in government or private hospitals of the country.
The government would give interest-free loans to deserving people so they can start a business in the urban areas of the country and will give loans of up to Rs300,000 to farmers in the rural areas.
“In agriculture, we are doing many things. Punjab is introducing the Kisan Card which will have a database of farmers, and small farmers will get a subsidy on pesticides and fertilisers.”
Speaking in regards to the construction industry, the premier said that the government held negotiations with the sector and provided them with incentives as 30 related industries are linked to the sector and provide income and employment to a large number of people.
Explaining that it is in the interest of the nation to expand the tax base, the premier said the only way to not approach institutions such as IMF is to not evade taxes.
Prior to PM Imran Khan’s speech, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi indulged into a war of words during NA session.
While speaking in the House, Bilawal Bhutto alleged that the PTI government had rigged the yesterday’s votes to get federal budget 2021-22 approved. As per the rules, the NA speaker was required to count when a voice vote was challenged, he added.
He said that the budget presented by the federal government will cause economic disaster.
It’s our right that all the members of the assembly should listen to the reforms presented by the opposition parties. The entire nation had seen how Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government struggled to show its 172 members to approve the budget, he stated.
In his address, the FM strongly bashed PPP chairman for accusing PTI of violating parliamentary tradition. How can Bilawal challenge the legitimacy of the budget, he asked.
Meanwhile earlier, the lower house during today’s session approved a supplementary budget of Rs1.246 trillion for the expenditure incurred during the fiscal year 2020-21 which was tabled by Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin
The development comes as NA passed the FY2021-22 federal budget by 172 votes on Tuesday a day earlier.
