PESHAWAR, October 16: The Election Commission has suspended membership of more than 200 parliamentarians because they did not disclose their assets.
The suspended parliamentarians include 40 members of the National Assembly, 32 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, 98 members of the Punjab Assembly, 27 lawmakers of the Sindh Assembly, nine from the Balochistan Assembly and two Senators.
According to a notification of the Election Commission, Sirajul Haq, Shaukat Yousafzai and Ziaullah Afridi are also among those suspended in the KP Assembly.
The Commission says the suspended members cannot participate in the assemblies’ proceedings till they submit details of their assets.
Previously, the Election Commission had asked all the parliamentarians to submit details of their assets by 15 October.
Proposals to amend the law
As per the Representation of the People Act, 1976, each of the legislators has to file statement of their assets and liabilities to the Election Commission and that is then notified in the official gazette by October 15 each year.
A Pakistani media organisation quoted ECP officials as saying that they had proposed the parliament to make several amendments in the law to make it meaningful.
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