ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday suspended the membership of 139 legislators after they failed to submit their annual asset declarations.
Among those suspended are two senators from Balochistan, Muhammad Qasim of the BNP and Abdul Quddus of the PPP.
Other legislators include 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 legislators have been prohibited from attending the proceedings of the respective legislature. Their suspension will last until they comply with the legal requirement to file their annual asset declarations. The name of Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who resigned months ago, also figures in the list of suspended MPs.
Some prominent lawmakers who have been suspended are: Ali Qasim Gilani, son of Senate President Yousuf Raza Gilani; PML-Q leader and former federal minister Tariq Bashir Chaudhry, Chaudhry Farrukh Altaf, retired Maj Tahir Iqbal, Miqdad Ali Khan, Mehboob Sultan and Mudassir Sehar Kamran. Article 137 of the Electoral Law of 2017, which deals with the presentation of declarations of assets and liabilities, says the following:
Movement caused by not submitting annual asset declarations
“(1) Every member of an Assembly and a Senate shall submit to the Commission, no later than December 31 of each year, a copy of his or her declaration of assets and liabilities, including the assets and liabilities of his or her spouse and children. dependents, on the thirtieth day before. June in form B.
“(2) The Commission, on the first day of January of each year. through a press release, publish the names of members who did not submit the required declaration of assets and liabilities within the period specified in subsection (1).
“(3) The Commission, on the sixteenth of January, by order shall suspend the membership of a member of an Assembly and of the Senate who does not submit the declaration of assets and liabilities before the fifteenth of January and such member shall cease. operate until the declaration of assets and liabilities is submitted.
“(4) Where a Member submits a declaration of assets and liabilities under this section and it is found to be false in material particulars, he may, within one hundred and twenty days from the date of submission of the declaration, be prosecuted by commit the crime of corrupt practice.
As many as 518 members of parliament and four provincial assemblies had not submitted their asset declarations by December 31, the legal deadline. But since the amended law provides for a grace period of 15 days, the suspension notice is issued on January 16.
Five suspended legislators from the Balochistan Assembly are Abdul Majeed Badini, PB-16, Jaffarabad; Dr. Malik Baloch, PB-26, Kech-II; Zafarullah Khan Zehri, PB-35, Surab; Ubaidullah Gorge, PB-44, Quetta-VII; and Safia, who was elected to a seat reserved for women.
Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report.
Published in Dawn, January 17, 2025
