ISLAMABAD, March 04, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh transacted most of agenda appearing on ‘Orders of the Day’ during last sitting (21st) of its 23rd session on Friday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.
Some key observations are as follows:
Members’ Participation in House Proceedings
- The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and two minutes.
- The sitting started at 1122 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
- Forty-five (27%) lawmakers were present at the start and 53 (32%) at adjournment of the sitting.
- The Speaker presided over the sitting for 107 minutes while the remaining proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
- The Chief Minister was absent.
- The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 40 minutes.
- Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
- Three minority members attended the sitting.
Output
- A government bill and an audit report appearing on the agenda were not taken up.
Representation and Responsiveness
- Three out of seven starred questions appearing on the agenda received oral replies from the government. In addition, lawmakers asked 24 supplementary questions.
- Three out of five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the list of business were responded to by the relevant departments. The remaining CANs were not taken up due to absence of movers.
- An Adjournment Motion submitted by MQM member regarding delay in allotment of plots to their possessors in Hyderabad was opposed by the government and the Speaker rejected the motion after debate on it for 23 minutes.
- The Chair rejected a Privilege Motion (PM) submitted by an MQM member regarding cancellation of approved development scheme for Hyderabad. Seven members spoke on it consuming 26 minutes of the proceeding.
Order and Institutionalization
- Lawmakers spoke on 18 Points of Order consuming 55 minutes of the proceeding.
- MQM lawmakers staged a token protest against the Chair for rejecting an AM moved by one of their party member.
Transparency
- “Orders of the Day” was available to the legislators, observers and others.
- Information on legislators’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.
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.