Sindh Assembly Leaves Private Members’ Agenda Unaddressed

ISLAMABAD, April 25, 2017: The Sindh Assembly left 23 motions to amend Assembly Rules, five motions and as many resolutions unaddressed during Private Members’ Day on Tuesday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the proceedings during eighth sitting of the 32nd session:

Members’ Participation

  • The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 20 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1142 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • The proceedings were suspended for three minutes due to Azaan (call for prayer) break.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 32 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the proceedings.
  • The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) was not present while the Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for 42 minutes.
  • Thirty-seven lawmakers (22%) were present at the outset and 48 (29%) at the adjournment of sitting.
  • The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PML-F and PTI attended the proceedings.
  • Six minority members were present.
  • Six members applied for leave.

Output

  • The House did not take up five resolutions, as many private motions and 23 motions to amend the assembly rules that appeared on the agenda.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up six out of 17 Starred Questions, which were responded to by the relevant minister. The lawmakers asked 25 Supplementary Questions.
  • The Chair administered oath to the newly-elected lawmaker of PPPP.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The lawmakers spoke on 14 Points of Order consuming 54 minutes of the proceedings.
  • Lawmakers belonging to PML-F protested against ruling party over passing unwarranted remarks against their leadership.

Transparency

  • Orders of the Day was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of lawmakers was available to the media and observers.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.