ISLAMABAD, January 15, 2021: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed two government bills and took up five Call Attention Notices (CANs) on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are some key observations of the House proceedings during eighth sitting of 17^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Assembly met for two hours and 18 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1543 hours against the scheduled time of 1430 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and six minutes while Members of Panel of Chairpersons chaired the remaining sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was absent.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of Opposition attended the proceedings for an hour and 15 minutes.
• Twenty-five legislators (15%) were present at the outset and 19 (11%) at the end of the sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of TLP, MMAP and PPPP attended the proceedings.
• Six out of nine minority lawmakers were present.

Output                                             

• Moved by the Ministers for Parliamentary Affairs, the House passed the Control of Narcotics Substance (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2020 and the Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Bill, 2020.Earlier, a member of Standing Committee on Law & Parliamentary Affairs presented reports on these bills.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up seven out of 15 starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 33 supplementary questions.
• The House took up five CANs regarding appointment of teachers in Boys/ Girls Primary and Secondary School, poor sewerage system in Karachi SITE area, law & order situation in Sindh, negligence of Local Government Department in execution of development work in PS-130 and closure of shrines in the province.
• Two other CANs on the agenda were not taken up by the House.
• Sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker, the Chair admitted an adjournment motion for discussion in the House which was regarding Federal Government’s intention to alter the 18^th Constitutional Amendment.

Order and Institutionalization

• PTI and GDA lawmakers staged a walkout at 1745 hours against the admissibility of adjournment motion related to 18^th Constitutional amendment. They did not return to the House till adjournment of sitting.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on January 18, 2021 (Monday) at 1400 hours.

 Transparency

• ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others.
• The attendance of lawmakers was not available to the observers and media.

This daily factsheet is based on direct observation of the Sindh Assembly proceeding conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) – a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted