ISLAMABAD, June 25, 2015: The Sindh Assembly passed the Finance Bill 2015 amid walkout by the opposition members during the last sitting of 20^th session on Thursday, says Free and Fair Election Network in its Daily Factsheet.

The sitting started 122 minutes behind the schedule with 44 members (26%) present at the start and 66 (39%) at the time of adjournment. The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting while the Opposition Leader was present for four hours and 35 minutes.

The House approved 59 Demands for Grants for the year 2015-16 and 50 Demands for Grants on Supplementary Budget Statement for the year 2014-15.

All cut motions (more than 600) were disapproved by the House.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and 41 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1202 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• 44 members were present at the start of the sitting and 66 at the adjournment of sitting.
• A maximum of 94 (56%) members were present at one point of the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting for four hours and 14 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were presided over by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Chief Minister attended the entire sitting.
•  Opposition Leader was present for four hours and 35 minutes.
• The Finance Minister attended the sitting for four hours and 46 minutes.
• Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI were present.
• Four non-Muslim members attended the proceedings.
• Three members applied for leave.

Output

• The Sindh Assembly passed the Sindh Finance Bill 2015.
• The House approved 59 Demands for Grants for the year 2015-16 and 50 Demands for Grants on Supplementary Budget Statement for the year 2014-15.
• The House witnessed presentation of the schedule of authorized expenditure for the year 2015-16 and the schedule of authorized supplementary expenditure for the year 2014-15.

Order and Institutionalization

• Twenty-nine points of order consumed 34 minutes of the sitting.
• MQM members protested for three minutes against the shortage of water in Karachi. Later, the entire opposition walked out of the House for eight minutes on the same issue.
• PML-F members protested for one minute against the kidnapping of journalist from Interior Sindh.
• All opposition parties walked out of the House at 1817 hours against the amendment in clause 6 of the Finance Bill that was about increasing the rate of stamp duty. The lawmakers did not return to the House till end of the sitting. Earlier, they protested within the House for one minute on the same issue.

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.