ISLAMABAD, June 24, 2021: The Sindh Assembly continued general discussion on provincial budget 2021-22 and five lawmakers took part in the debate, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 16th sitting of the 21st session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for two hours and 14 minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for 22 minutes due to prayer break and protest.
• The sitting started at 12:30 pm against the scheduled time of 11:00 am.
• The speaker chaired the proceedings for an hour and 33 minutes while the remaining sitting was presided over by a member of panel of chairpersons.
• The deputy speaker did not attend the sitting.
• The leader of the House (Chief Minister) was absent.
• The opposition leader attended the proceedings for an hour and 32 minutes.
• As many as 20 MPAs (14 percent) were present at the outset and 78 (47 percent) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI, MQMP, GDA, and MMAP were present, while the leader of TLP did not attend the sitting.
• Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the proceedings.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Five lawmakers – PPPP (three) and one each of GDA and PTI – participated in general discussion on budget for the financial year 2021-22 as well as supplementary budget for the financial year 2020-21. They consumed 59 minutes of the proceedings.

Order and Institutionalization

• Lawmakers belonging to MQM protested for an hour and 54 minutes over their reservations on provincial budget. PTI lawmakers also joined this protest for six
• The chair suspended the proceedings for seven minutes due to protest of MQM lawmakers in the House.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on Friday, June 25, 2021 at 10:00 am.

Transparency                                                              

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the media and observers.

 

This Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of the Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted