ISLAMABAD, September 30, 2018: The Sindh Assembly approved 153 demands for grants while rejecting opposition’s cut motions on Sunday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of proceedings during eighth (last) sitting of the second session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for six hours and seven minutes.
• The sitting started at 1113 hours against the scheduled time of 1000 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for five hours and 32 minutes while the Deputy speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) attended the entire sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for four hours and 39 minutes.
• The parliamentary leaders of MQM, PPPP, GDA, MMA, TLP and PTI attended the sitting.
• As many as 69 (42%) lawmakers were present at outset and 80 (48%) at the adjournment of the sitting.
• As many as six out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output

• Moved by the Chief Minister, the House approved 153 demand for grants. The opposition lawmakers moved 39 cut motions on these demands, which were rejected by majority votes. The Leader of Opposition withdrew 54 cut motions while 20 motions could not be taken up due to absence of relevant lawmakers.
• The Chief Minister laid before the House the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the Year, 2018-19.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The Finance Minister (CM) responded to the budgetary proposals made during the budget discussion consuming two hours and 54 minutes of the proceedings.
• None of the lawmaker participated in discussion on charged expenditures.
• The Chief Minister gave concluding remarks after laying the Schedule of Authorized Expenditure for the year, 2018-19.

Order and Institutionalization

• The Speaker made a 15-minute long statement before the House after the conclusion of scheduled business.
• The Leader of Opposition raised two points of order consuming two minutes of the proceedings.
• The Session was prorogued sine die.

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 Sindh Assembly proceedings conducted by Pakistan Press Foundation, a member organization of FAFEN. Errors and omissions are excepted.