ISLAMABAD, Dec 16:  The first sitting of the Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 59 minutes with low attendance of Members. A total of 28 Members at the outset and 62 at the end of the sitting were present.

A total of nine questions were listed for the Question Hour. However, only five questions were put up and responded by the relevant ministries.

A total of 11 Points of Order were raised, which consumed 21 minutes of the sitting time. None of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling. Unless the Chair gives a formal ruling on a Point of Order, it does not contribute to any assembly output.

The Chief Minster attended the sitting for 40 minutes. The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PMLF, NPP and PML (forward block) attended the proceedings.

Following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 59 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The House proceedings started late by 73 minutes.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minster attended the sitting for 40 and the Leader of the Opposition was not present.
• The Parliamentary Leaders of the PPPP, MQM, PMLF, NPP and PML (forward block) attended the sitting, while the leader of the PML was absent.
• A total of 28 Members (17% of total Membership) were present at the start, while 62 (37%) were present when the sitting was adjourned.
• Five minority Members were present during the sitting.
• Four Members applied for leave to be absent.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Nine questions were listed for the Question Hour. However, only five questions were put up and responded by the relevant ministries.
• A total of 25 supplementary questions were raised during the sitting.

Output

• The Sindh Irrigation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2011 was taken up during the sitting. 

Order and Institutionalization

• Eleven Points of Order were raised, consuming 21 minutes (18% of sitting time). However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• A PPPP Member raised a Question of Personal Privilege (QoP) during the sitting.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts during the sitting.

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was visibly lacking at various stages during the sitting. However, lack of Quorum was not pointed out by any of the Members of the Sindh Assembly.

After successfully observing proceedings of the National Assembly, the Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) has started the observation of the provincial assemblies – Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan – and the Senate.This daily factsheet is based on FAFEN’s direct observation of the first sitting of 32nd session of the Sindh Assembly. These reports will be released on the day the sittings are held to provide media and other interested stakeholders vital statistics about the Assembly proceedings to encourage informed public discourse on its performance.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN