ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Adviser Jamshed Dasti is one of the two sitting MNAs who repeatedly violated election laws and did not submit their annual returns within the required timeframe, a recently released report says.
PML-Q MNA from Battagram (NA-22) Muhammad Nawaz Allai is the other MNA who avoided furnishing annual statements of assets and liabilities for the last two financial years, 2007-08 and 2008-09, a Pildat report said.
PML-N MNA Khawaja Muhammad Asif along with another party member Raja Muhammad Safdar also took for granted the submission of their last yearly returns in 2008-09 within the deadlines under Article 42-A of the People’s Representation Act 1976.
In 2007-08, there were total of eight MNAs who did not put forward their statements within the legal timeframe. The members were Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, Nawaz Allai, Istiqbal Khan, Rana Abdul Sattar, Jamshed Dasti, Sardar Muhammad Israr Tareen and Reena Kumrani.
“It is not possible for any one either from the Senate, the National Assembly or the provincial assemblies to maintain his/her membership without submitting their annual statements after the legal timeframe, which is clearly mentioned in the People’s Representation Act,” explains a former Secretary ECP Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad.
“This is absolutely wrong that I have not furnished the annual return,” was the response from Raja Muhammad Safdar, an MNA from Jehlum, when approached for comment. “Neither did I avoid nor did I delay in submitting the annual declaration,” he said.
Raja Safdar said he was a law-abiding citizen and firmly believed in discharging his responsibilities well within time. “There are so many mistakes in the report as the Pildat has given wrong figures particularly about me whether it is the ECP data or collected through any other source,” he said.
Kanwar Dilshad, who was holding the secretary ECP position in the said two years, said the election rules of the ECP made it binding for the MPs to submit their annual returns latest by September 30 every year whether it is 2007-08 or 2008-09.
“A member is declared suspended from the membership of the relevant elected House if he/she does not discharge the legal responsibility of furnishing the annual returns along with their signatures,” the former ECP secretary elaborated. “The Election Commission is bound to make non-functional a member who has not provided the statements till the last date, which is September 30 every year,” he maintained.
