ISLAMABAD, June 13, 2015: The Sindh Assembly witnessed the presentation of the provincial budget for the upcoming financial year amid protest and walkouts on Saturday, says Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN).

The sitting started 89 minutes behind the schedule with 86 members present at the start and 98 at the time of adjournment. The Chief Minister and the Opposition Leader attended the entire sitting.

Along with the Sindh Finance Bill 2015, the Finance Minister also presented the annual budget statement for the fiscal year 2015-2016 and the supplementary budget statement for the year 2014-2015.

The Finance Minister took 137 minutes (80% of sitting time) to present the budget as the opposition members chanted slogans within the House to register their protest and later walked out of the sitting for 98 minutes.

Following are some key observations of the assembly business:

Members’ Participation in House Proceedings

• The Sindh Assembly met for two hours and 51 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1259 hours against the scheduled time of 1130 hours.
• 86 members were present at the start and 98 at the end of the sitting.
• A maximum of 114 members attended the sitting.
• The Speaker chaired the entire sitting.
• The Deputy Speaker was also present.
• The Chief Minister and the Opposition leader attended the entire siting.
• The Finance Minister was present for the entire duration.
• The parliamentary leaders of PPPP, MQM, PTI, PML-N and PML-F attended the sitting.
• Five minority members were present.
• Two members applied for the leave.

Output

• The Finance Minister presented the Sindh Finance Bill 2015 along with the annual budget statement for the fiscal year 2015-2016 and the supplementary budget statement for the year 2014-2015.

Order and Institutionalization

• No point of order was raised during the sitting.
• Opposition members (except those belonging to MQM) protested against the budget on two occasions for 20 minutes and also staged two walkouts that lasted 98 minutes.

Transparency

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

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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.