Sindh PA Meets for 8 Hrs, 42 Mins; Debates Annual Budget

ISLAMABAD, June 22, 2019: The Sindh Assembly met for eight hours and 42 minutes on Saturday and consumed major portion of the proceedings in debate on provincial budget, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

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

Members’ Participation

  • The House met for eight hours and 42 minutes however, the proceedings remained suspended for nine minutes due to Azan Breaks.
  • The sitting started at 1450 hours against the scheduled time of 1300 hours.
  • The Speaker presided over the sitting for three hours and 36 minutes, Deputy Speaker for three hours and 58 minutes while a member of Panel of Chairpersons chaired rest of the proceedings.
  • The Leader of the House attended the proceedings for five hours and 51 minutes.
  • The Leader of the Opposition was present for five hours and 40 minutes.
  • As many as 49 MPAs (30%) were present at the outset and 52 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, MQMP and MMAP attended the proceedings.
  • Eight out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • Seventeen lawmakers – PPPP (8), MQMP (4), PTI (3), GDA and MMAP (one each) – participated in the general discussion on provincial budget consuming eight hours and 13 minutes.

Order and Institutionalization

  • PPPP lawmakers protested during the proceedings for five minutes against a PTI lawmaker who criticized Sindh government in his speech.
  • The House was adjourned to meet again on June 24, 2019 (Monday) 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