Sindh PA: Lack of Quorum Leads to Adjournment of Sitting

ISLAMABAD, November 14, 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh was adjourned without transacting its entire business due to lack of quorum on Thursday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are the key observations of the House proceedings during 24th sitting of the sixth session:

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for two hours and 29 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1540 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for an hour and 34 minutes while rest of the proceedings was chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
  • The Leader of the House attended the proceedings for an hour and five minutes.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for 30 minutes.
  • As many as 46 MPAs (27%) were present at the outset and 26 (15%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up four out of 10 starred questions while the lawmakers asked 25 supplementary questions as well.
  • The Ministers concerned responded to two Call Attention Notices (CANs) regarding non-completion of a hospital at NIPA Gulshan-e-Iqbal and rate of sugarcane.
  • One CAN each was not considered due to absence of mover and the relevant minister while two others remained unaddressed due to early adjournment of sitting.
  • A newly elected member of the House from PPPP took the oath and ten lawmakers spoke for 38 minutes to congratulate him.

Order and Institutionalization

  • A PTI lawmaker pointed out the quorum at 1809 hours following which the Chair adjourned the House to meet again on November 18, 2019 (Monday) at 1400 hours.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and public.
  • Attendance of the lawmakers was available to the media and observer.

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