ISLAMABAD, September 17, 2018: The Sindh Assembly on Monday witnessed presentation of nine-month Budget Statement of the Financial Year 2018-19 from October 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in Daily Factsheet.
The PPPP Government had earlier on presented the financial year’s budget before the end of the previous assembly’s tenure on May 31, 2018. It had obtained the authorization of expenditures for the next three months during the interregnum in place to hold General Elections on July 25, 2018.
Following are key observations of proceedings during first sitting of the 2nd session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 30 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1105 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present.
- The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) and the Leader of the Opposition attended the entire sitting.
- One-hundred-and-thirty-five lawmakers (81%) were present at the outset and 129 (77%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
- Five minority members were present.
- None of the members applied for leave.
Output
- The Chief Minister presented the Budget Statement for the remaining period of the financial year, 2018-19 (from October 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019) in 56 minutes. The House will start debate on the nine-month budget amounting to Rs 1,123 billion in the next sitting on September 24, 2018.
Order and Institutionalization
- MQM lawmakers protested on floor of the House for 20 minutes against acute water shortage in Karachi.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.
This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.