PNN: The Election Commission of Pakistan announced Thursday that 446 lawmakers, including 125 National Assembly members, missed the December 31 deadline to file their statements of assets and liabilities
In a press release issued today, ECP notified the lawmakers who had missed the earlier deadline to submit their statements by January 15, and said that “as many as 446 lawmakers failed to submit their statements of assets and liabilities” with the ECP by the due date.
Out of these, 125 lawmakers are members of the National Assembly, 26 Senators, 159 members of the Punjab Assembly, 62 members of the Sindh Assembly, 48 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly and 26 members of the Balochistan Assembly.
The commission said that members of the parliament and provincial assemblies were required to submit a copy of a statement of assets and liabilities by Dec 31, including assets and liabilities of their dependents.
It stated that the submission was a mandatory requirement under Section 137 of the Elections Act, 2017.
Section 137 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017 stipulates that “every member of an assembly and senate shall submit to the Commission, on or before Dec 31 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.”
ECP directed lawmakers who had not yet complied to submit their statement by Jan 15 during office hours.
It warned that members who failed to do so will be suspended the next day, in accordance with Section 137 (3) of the Elections Act, 2017.
Section 137(3) pertains to the suspension of lawmakers who fail to comply with the deadline.
Last year, ECP suspended the membership of 139 lawmakers after they failed to submit their annual statements of assets.
Those suspended included two Senators from Balochistan, Muhammad Qasim of BNP and Abdul Quddus of PPP.
Other lawmakers included 16 members of the National Assembly, 68 of the Punjab Assembly, 33 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 15 of the Sindh Assembly and five of the Balochistan Assembly.
The suspended lawmakers were barred from attending the respective legislature’s proceedings.