Only 610 MPs submit statements of assets so far

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Monday said out of a total of 1,191 parliamentarians, 610 had so far submitted their statements of assets and liabilities an those of their spouse(s) and dependent children.

The non-complying legislators include members of the federal cabinet as well as provincial governments. “Those, who have hitherto, failed to comply with Section 137 of the Elections Act, 2017, have been asked through a statement to do the needful by January 15, otherwise, the non-complying legislators’ membership of the respective legislature will be suspended in line with Section 137 (3) of the act till they file the required documents. As per the law, each member of the Parliament and provincial legislatures have to annually submit their related to the electoral body by December 31,” said the commission in a statement.

According to the Election Commission from the 100-member Senate, 63 lawmakers had submitted their asset and liabilities details, while 36 were yet to do so whereas one seat, belonging to Senate, was vacant.

Likewise, of the 342 members of the National Assembly, majority of lawmakers — 201 — had failed to file their required documents, including some ministers and a former prime minister. However, 131 MNAs could only submit their asset and liabilities details to the Election Commission. Nine assembly seats are lying vacant, whereas one (reserve seat) member’s case is in court.

As many as 212 members of the Punjab Assembly have complied with this annual legal requirement so far, while 159 are yet to do so, out of the total 371 lawmakers of the provincial legislature.

From the 168-member Sindh Assembly, 92 submitted their required documents to the Election Commission, whereas 76 were awaited to do so. Similarly, out of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s total 145 members, 71 of them filed their documents and majority of them i.e. 74 were yet to submit their related information to the electoral body.

Of the total 65 members of the Balochistan Assembly, 41 complied with the legal requirement, whereas 24 are awaited to file their documents. Minister Senator Musadik Malik, other Senators Azam Nazeer Tarar, Moula Bakhsh Chandio, Taj Haider, Mohsin Aziz, former finance minister Senator Shaukat Tarin and Azam Swati also did not submit related statements.

Ex-premier MNA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ministers Syed Khursheed Shah, Khawaja Asif, Ahsan Iqbal, Agha Hassan Baloch, Shahzain Bugti, Sajid Hussain Turi, Mufti Abdul Shakoor and MNA Sardar Muhammad Akhtar Mengal have so far failed to do the needful. Other non-filers include MNAs Qasim Khan Suri, Fawad Chaudhry, Shafqat Mehmood, Ali Nawaz Awan, and Chairman Kashmir Committee Makhdoomzada Syed Basit Sultan Bukhari.