ISLAMABAD, April 18 2019: The Provincial Assembly of Sindh debated an adjournment motion about rolling back of the 18th Constitutional Amendment by the federal government, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daly Factsheet on Thursday.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during 37^th sitting of the fourth session:

Members’ Participation

• The House met for three hours and nine minutes; however, the proceedings remained suspended for three minutes due to call for prayer.
• The sitting started at 1430 hours against the scheduled time of 1300 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 29 minutes while the Deputy Speaker chaired the rest of the sitting.
• The Leader of the House did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition attended the sitting for two hours and one minute.
• As many as 47 lawmakers (28%) were present at the commencement and 62 (37%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, TLP, PTI and MQMP attended the sitting.
• As many as seven out of nine minority lawmakers attended the sitting.

Output                                                               

• The Speaker announced Governor’s assent to the Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
• The Minister for Parliamentary Affairs tabled four audit reports related to various departments which were referred to the Public Accounts Committees (PAC) for review and presentation of detailed report on them within one year.

Representation and Responsiveness

• Sponsored by a PPPP lawmaker, the House held discussion on an adjournment motion about reports of rolling back the 18th Constitutional Amendment by the Federal Government. As many as three PPPP lawmakers debated it for 32 minutes.
• Another adjournment motion sponsored by MQMP lawmaker was not taken up due to his absence.
• The Minister for Prisons answered four out of six starred questions. In addition, the lawmakers asked 25 supplementary questions.

• The Ministers for Food, Local Government, Energy and Home Affairs responded to four Call Attention Notices (CANs) appearing on the agenda. These CANs were about fixation of the rates for wheat crops, maintenance of the Disco Water Pumping Station Motors, improper distribution of royalty funds by Oil & Gas companies in District Sanghar and increase in number of mobile snatching incidents in district Korangi.
• Another CAN about sale of poor quality mineral water was not taken up due to absence of its mover.

Order and Institutionalization

• As many as eight lawmakers spoke on Points of Orders consuming 31 minutes of the proceedings.
• Lawmakers belonging to GDA, MQMAP, PTI staged protest on floor of the House for eleven minutes during debate on 18^th Constitutional Amendment. Later, they walked out from the proceedings for 26 minutes.
• The House was adjourned to meet again on April 19, 2019 (Friday) at 1500 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.
  

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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