ISLAMABAD, June 23, 2015: The Sindh Assembly suspended its regular agenda on Tuesday to mourn the death of hundreds of citizens in a deadly heatwave in Karachi and other parts of the province, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 102 minutes behind the schedule with 76 members (45%) present at the start and 84 (50%) at the time of adjournment.

The agenda included concluding speeches of lawmakers on the provincial budget, a discussion on charged expenditure and voting on demands for grants for the supplementary budget statement 2014-15.

The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader expressed condolences to the victims’ families and assured to take steps to overcome the energy crisis in the province.

The House also offered prayers for the departed souls.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for 37 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1142 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• 76 members (45%) were present at the start of the sitting.
• A maximum 84 (50%) members were present at the time of adjournment.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 25 minutes.
• The Finance Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.
• All the parliamentary leaders were present.
• Five non-Muslim members attended the proceedings.
• No member applied for leave.

Order and Institutionalization

• Three points of order consumed 20 minutes of the sitting.

Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the members, observers and the public.
• Information on members’ attendance was available to the observers and the public.

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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.