Last Sitting of 14th Session Witness Low Attendance

Session prorogued sine die

ISLAMABAD, September 26, 2014: The last sitting of the 14^th session of Sindh Assembly witnessed low attendance of MPAs as only 17% of the total membership was present at the outset, while 26 % were there at the adjournment of the sitting, says Free and Fair Election Network.

Meeting for three hours and 16 minutes, the Sindh Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution against the ongoing PAT and PTI’s sit-ins in Islamabad.

The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting, while the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting time.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

 Members’ Participation in the House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 16 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1045 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours, witnessing a delay of 45 minutes.
• The Deputy Speaker chaired the entire sitting. The Speaker did not attend the sitting.
•  The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting while the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Twenty-nine MPAs (17%) were present at the outset, 43 (26%) at the adjournment, while a maximum of 74 MPAs (45%) were observed to be present at one point during the sitting.
• Four minority MPAs attended the sitting.
• Two MPAs applied for leave.

 Output

• Submitted by a PML-N female MPA, the Sindh Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution against the PAT and PTI’s sit-ins in Islamabad.
• The Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs moved the Sindh Workers Welfare Fund Bill, 2014 which was referred to relevant committee for further deliberations.

 Representation and Responsiveness

• All five starred questions (requiring oral as well) appearing on the agenda were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministry. In addition, 18 supplementary questions were asked.
• Submitted by a PML-F lawmaker, the House took up an adjournment motion about the recent drought in Thar.
• The House took up two calling attention notices (CANs). The first CAN was about the alleged torture of policemen against the protestors outside Bilawal House and the other was about poor sanitary arrangements in Karachi.

  Order and Institutionalization

• Three points of order were raised which consumed seven minutes of the proceedings’ time.
• There was no instance of protest, boycott or walkout.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• Information on members’ attendance was available to observers and the public.

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