ISLAMABAD, June 17, 2016: The Sindh Assembly consumed major part of sitting in debate on Provincial Budget for Financial Year 2016-17 during 5th sitting of its 25th session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and 23 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1116 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The House had a prayer break for 96 minutes.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 19 minutes while rest of the proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister was absent.
- The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for four hours and five minutes.
- Finance Minister attended the entire sitting.
- Twenty-two lawmakers (13%) were present at the start and 35 (21%) at the end of the sitting.
- The Parliamentary Leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N, NPP and PTI were present.
- Six minority members were present.
- Four members applied for leave.
Output
- The House adopted a resolution to end unannounced load-shedding in the province.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Eighteen lawmakers took part in general discussion on Budget consuming three hours and 48 minutes of the proceeding.
Order and Institutionalization
- Opposition lawmakers protested within the House twice. The first protest was against Chair’s attitude for not allowing a PTI lawmaker to conclude her speech while other protest was reportedly made against objectionable remarks by a PPPP lawmaker.
- Six Points of Order consumed ten minutes of the proceeding.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- The attendance of lawmakers was available to observers and media.
This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.