ISLAMABAD, May 9, 2018: The Sindh Assembly passed five government bills on Wednesday including a legislative proposal returned by the Governor, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

Following are key observations of the House proceedings during first sitting of the 40^th session:

Members’ Participation

• The Sindh Assembly met for three hours and 25 minutes.
• The sitting started at 1600 hours against the scheduled time of 1500 hours.
• The Speaker presided over the sitting for two hours and 22 minutes while the rest of the proceedings were chaired by the Deputy Speaker.
• The Leader of the House (Chief Minister) did not attend the sitting.
• The Leader of the Opposition was present for two hours and 55 minutes.
• As many as 25 (15%) lawmakers were present at the outset and 43 (26%) at the adjournment of sitting.
• The parliamentary leaders MQM, PML-F, PML-N and PTI attended the sitting.
• As many as seven minority lawmakers were also present.

Output

• Tabled by the Provincial Minister for Law, the House passed the Sindh Regularization of Contingent Paid or Work-Charged Employees of Left Bank Outfall Drainage (LBOD) Bill, 2018; the Sindh Home-Based Workers Bill, 2018; the Regularization of Doctors Appointed on Contract or Adhoc Basis Bill, 2018; the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Sindh Regularization of Veterinary Doctors Appointed on Contract Basis Bill, 2018.
• The Sindh Regularization of Veterinary Doctors Appointed on Contract Basis Bill, 2018 has been earlier passed by the House but the Governor did not give his assent on it and asked to reconsider it. However, the House unanimously passed it again following which it would be forwarded to governor for his assent. The  Rule 117 (5) of the Rules of Procedure of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, 2013 says, “ When the Governor has returned a Bill to the Provincial Assembly, it shall be reconsidered by the Provincial Assembly and, if it is again passed, with or without amendment, by the Provincial Assembly, by the votes of the majority of the members of the Provincial Assembly present and voting, it shall be again presented to the Governor and the Governor shall give his assent within ten days, failing which such assent shall be deemed to have been given”.
• The Provincial Minister for Law introduced the Sindh Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2018 which was referred to the relevant committee for further consideration.
• The Speaker informed the House about assent of Governor on the Sindh Holy Quran (Printing, Recording and Disposal of Damaged or Shaheed and Sacred Auraqs) Bill, 2018, the West Pakistan Highways (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2018, the University of Modern Sciences, Tando Muhammad Khan Bill, 2017, the Sohail University Bill, 2017 and the City University Bill, 2018.

Representation and Responsiveness

• The House took up all four Starred Questions during the Question Hour. The lawmakers asked 27 supplementary questions as well.

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