The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced the suspension of 154 parliamentarians and provincial members over failure to file the assets detail.
Among the suspended are Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Amir Liaquat has also been suspended for failing to submit the documents.
Furthermore, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Fahmida Mirza, and Senators Musaddiq Malik, Kamran Michael, and Shamim Afridi have also been suspended.
The top elections body has suspended the membership of 48 Members of National Assembly (MNA), three senators, 52 lawmakers of Punjab Assembly, 19 MPAs of Sindh Assembly, 26 members of KP Assembly and six members of Balochistan Assembly.
From total 1,195 lawmakers, 1,131 have submitted their declarations of assets, ECP stated.
As part of an annual exercise, the ECP had asked lawmakers to submit their statements of assets for the financial year ending on June 30 with a deadline of Dec 31.
The ECP seeks asset details under Section 42A of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1976, and Section 25A of the Senate (Elections) Act, 1975.
Section 137 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017, reads, “every member of an Assembly and Senate shall submit to the Commission, on or before 31st December each year, a copy of his statement of assets and liabilities including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on the preceding thirtieth day of June on Form B.”
The ECP has written letters to the Senate chairman, National Assembly (NA) speaker, speakers of all four provincial assemblies and clarified that the suspended members cannot attend any proceedings.
