ISLAMABAD: 261 parliamentarians were suspended of their membership on Monday over their failure to submit statements of assets and liabilities to the electoral watchdog, said Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reports.
Earlier, the ECP had issued circulars to the lawmakers under Sub-Section 42A of the Representation of People Act (RoPA) to submit their financial details in time before September 30 or accept the natural scale of consequences.
At present, there are a total of 1,174 parliamentarians.
According to detailed accounts, 7 out of 104 senators, 71 of 342 MNAs, 84 of 371 MPAs from Punjab, 50 of 168 MPAs from Sindh, 38 of 124 MPAs from K-P and 11 of 65 MPAs from Balochistan failed to submit their financial details.
Three seats are vacant in the Senate and in the National Assembly, and two remain vacant in the Punjab Assembly.
Of the total 1,174 parliamentarians, 905 or 77.09% have submitted their yearly statements.
A notification by the ECP named those members “who have failed to file statements of assets and liabilities of themselves, their spouses and their dependents” from the National Assembly, the Senate and the provincial.
The ECP notification narrated that the lawmakers “shall cease to function as such members with immediate effect and till such statements are submitted by them.”
Among the suspended lawmakers are Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Capt (retd) Safdar, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s estranged MNA Ayesha Gulalai, Interior Minister for State Talal Chaudhry, Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Yousaf and former National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza.
Also among the MNAs who failed to submit financial details are Moshin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, Maulana Muhammad Gohar Shah, Shehryar Afridi, Muhammad Azhar Khan Jadoon, Shah Je Gul Afridi and Peer Syed Muhammad Saqlain Shah.
