ISLAMABAD, March 21: Starting an hour and 28 minutes behind schedule, the 13^th sitting of Sindh Assembly’s 34^th session, which met for an hour and 42 minutes on Wednesday, unanimously passed a resolution on extending the deadline for verifying the voter lists.

The resolution demanded to extend the deadline by a month for correcting and enrolling names in the voter lists for general elections 2013.

The House took up and discussed a privilege motion regarding no response by Chief Engineer of Sukkur Barrage.

Forty-seven Members were present at the start while 70 were there when the sitting was adjourned.

The Speaker chaired the sitting while the Deputy Speaker was not present. The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.

Three Questions out of 11 on the Agenda were taken up, as 37 Supplementary Questions were also asked. The relevant minister was present in the House.

Nine Points of Order consumed 12 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.

The following are some key observations of the parliamentary business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for an hour and 42 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1128 hours instead of the scheduled starting time of 1000 hours. The proceedings were delayed by an hour and 28 minutes.
• The Speaker chaired the sitting. The Deputy Speaker was not present.
• The Chief Minister did not attend the sitting.
• All the parliamentary leaders were present during the sitting.
• Forty-seven Members were present at the start while 70 were there when the sitting was adjourned.
• Five minority Members were present during the proceedings.
• One Member applied for leave to be absent.
  

Representation and Responsiveness

• Three Questions out of 11 on the Agenda were taken up, as 37 Supplementary Questions were also asked. The relevant minister was present in the House.The house unanimously passed a resolution on extending the deadline by a month for correcting and enrolling names in the voter lists for general elections 2013.
  

Output

• There was no bill on the Orders of the Day.
  

Order and Institutionalization

• Nine Points of Order consumed 10 minutes of the sitting time. However, none of the Points of Order attracted the Chair’s formal ruling.
• There were no instances of protests, boycotts or walkouts.
  

Transparency

• Orders of the Day were available to Legislators, observers and others.
• Information on Members’ attendance was unavailable to observers and the public.
• The Quorum was maintained throughout the sitting.

The Daily Factsheet is based on direct observation of Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), a member organization of FAFEN