ISLAMABAD, February 2, 2017: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed three government bills and adopted a supplementary resolution that seeks subsidy on electricity for tube-well owners on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Following are key observations of the proceedings during 12th sitting of the 29th session:
Members’ Participation
- The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 10 minutes.
- The sitting started at 1033 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to Azan break.
- The Speaker was not present as he is performing the duties as acting Governor of Sindh.
- The Deputy Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 31 minutes while the rest of proceedings were chaired by a Member of Panel of Chairpersons.
- The Chief Minister attended the proceedings for an hour and nine minutes.
- The Leader of Opposition attended the sitting for an hour and 38 minutes.
- Nineteen lawmakers (11%) were present at the start and 47 (28%) at the adjournment of sitting.
- The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F and PTI were present.
- Seven minority members also attended the sitting.
- Six members applied for leave.
Output
- Introduced by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2017 and the Sindh Arms (Amendment) Bill, 2017.
- Tabled by Minister for Transport, the House also passed the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2015.
- Tabled jointly by PPPP and PML-F lawmakers, the House unanimously adopted a resolution as supplementary agenda urging the government to contact Federal government for provision of 80 percent subsidy on electricity bills for farmers using tube wells for agriculture purposes.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Seven out of 10 Starred Questions were taken up and responded to by the relevant ministers. The lawmakers also asked 39 Supplementary Questions.
- The House took up five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on various issues of public importance.
Order and Institutionalization
- A lawmaker spoke on one Point of Order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
- The entire opposition staged protest for four minutes against the Chair for not being allowed to meet ministers during the proceedings for personal matters.
Transparency
- ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
- Attendance of lawmakers was not available on website of the Assembly.
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.