Sindh Assembly Passes Finance Bill, 2019

ISLAMABAD, June 27, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed the Finance Bill,2019 amid protest by the opposition lawmakers, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 12th sitting of the 5th session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 50 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1305 hours against the scheduled time of 1100 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the entire sitting while the Deputy Speaker was also present.
  • The Leaders of the House attended the entire proceedings.
  • The Leader of the Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 15 minutes.
  • As many as 46 MPAs (28%) were present at the outset and 99 (60%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Eight out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

  • Moved by the Chief Minister, the House passed the Sindh Finance Bill,2019. As many as six lawmakers – MQM, PTI & PPPP (two each) –spoke on it for an hour and 15 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • PTI lawmakers protested during the proceedings for an hour and 17 minutes against the attitude of Leader of the House who allegedly spoke in an objectionable tone with the Leader of the House.
  • The Leader of the Opposition walked out from the proceedings at 1440 hours against the attitude of the Leader of the House with him. He did not return to the House till adjournment of the sitting.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 28, 2019 (Friday) at 1000 hours.

Transparency                                                       

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • The attendance of lawmakers was 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