Sindh Assembly: Ten Lawmakers Debate Provincial Budget

ISLAMABAD, June 15, 2016: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh continued general discussion on the Provincial Budget for Financial Year 2016-17 during 3rd sitting of 25th session on Wednesday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Sindh Assembly met for four hours and 20 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1125 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 52 minutes while the remaining proceeding was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 54 minutes.
  • The Opposition Leader attended the sitting for 85 minutes.
  • Twenty-nine lawmakers (18%) were present at the start and 65 (40%) 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.
  • Two members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Ten lawmakers – PPPP & MQM (3 each), PML-F & PML-N (2 each) – took part in general discussion on Budget and spoke on it for three hours and 53 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • Ten Points of Order consumed 14 minutes of the proceeding.
  • MQM lawmakers staged a token walkout against registration of FIR against their ex-parliamentarian.

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.