698 parliamentarians submit assets statements with ECP

ISLAMABAD: As many as 698 parliamentarians so far have submitted the yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, their spouses and their dependents with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

According to an ECP official, out of the total, 79 Senators, 216 Members of the National Assembly, 187 Members of the Punjab Assembly, 98 Members of the Sindh Assembly, 69 Members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly and 49 members of Balochistan Assembly had submitted their yearly statements.

He said that 469 parliamentarians still did not submit their statements which included 23 Senators, 123 MNAs, 182 Punjab Assembly members, 70 Sindh Assembly members, 55 KP Assembly members and 16 Balochistan Assembly members.

He also said that presently there were a total of 1,174 parliamentarians which included 104 senators, 342 MNAs, 371 Punjab Assembly members, 168 Sindh Assembly members, 124 KP Assembly members and 65 Balochistan Assembly members. He added that seven seats were lying vacant in the Senate, National and Provincial Assemblies.

The official also highlighted that the defaulters would be suspended from their respective seats of assemblies as this was a mandatory requirement under Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 and Section 25A of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975.

He also said that the prescribed forms were available, free of charge, from the Islamabad Election Commission Secretariat and offices of the Provincial Election Commissioners in each province. He added forms had already been sent to the Senate Secretariat, National Assembly Secretariat and secretariats of all the four provincial assemblies for the facility of the parliamentarians.