Sindh PA Sitting Marred By Opposition’s Protest

ISLAMABAD, December 14, 2015: Starting 95 minutes behind the schedule, the third sitting of ongoing 22nd session of the Sindh Assembly was adjourned due to protest by Opposition parties on Monday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House did not take up 80 percent of its agenda items.

Some key observations are as follows:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

  • The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 55 minutes.
  • The sitting started at 1135 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
  • Sixty (36%) lawmakers were present at the start and 81 (48%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
  • A maximum of 96 (57%) members attended the sitting.
  • The Speaker chaired the sitting for 115 minutes.
  • The Chief Minister attended the sitting for 83 minutes.
  • The Leader of Opposition attended the sitting for 105 minutes.
  • Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI attended the sitting.
  • Seven minority members attended the sitting.
  • Four members applied for leave.

Representation and Responsiveness

  • The House took up all four starred questions appearing on the agenda. The members also asked 13 supplementary questions.
  • The House took up five Calling Attention Notices (CANs) which were responded to by the relevant Ministers. These CANs were related to non-functioning of Cardio Ward in Government Paretabad Hospital Hyderabad, fake registration of 1300 Government vehicles, water shortage in Liyari Town, preventive measures against HIV and purchase of Dialysis Machines by provincial Health Department.

Order and Institutionalization

  • The members belonging to PTI and PML-F staged protest within the House for 22 minutes against the Speaker’s refusal to consider their supplementary resolution.

Transparency

  • ‘Orders of the Day’ was available to the legislators, observers and others
  • Information on legislators’ attendance was available to the observers and the public

To download the Factsheet, Click here


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