LAHORE: Eighty-four lawmakers, who were suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities, were barred from attending the Punjab Assembly session on Tuesday.
Out of 84 lawmakers, 74 belong to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), six to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), two from Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and two from PML-Zia.
The barred lawmakers include provincial ministers Iqbal Ahmad and Chaudhry Shafiq.
On Monday, the membership of 261 lawmakers of the national and provincial assemblies and Senate was suspended by the ECP for not submitting statements of assets and liabilities.
The suspended parliamentarians include Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar, estranged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Ayesha Gulalai, State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry, Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Yousaf and former National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza.
The ECP’s notification shows that seven senators, 71 MNAs, 84 Punjab Assembly MPAs, 50 Sindh Assembly MPAs, 38 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa MPAs, and 11 Balochistan MPAs have been suspended.
So far, 905 legislators had submitted their yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, spouses and dependents to the ECP.
It is a mandatory requirement under Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976, and Section 25A of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975, that those parliamentarians who failed to submit statements of assets and liabilities would be suspended from respective seats of the Senate and national and provincial assemblies.