ECP restores membership of 36 parliamentarians

Islamabad: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday restored the membership of 36 more parliamentarians and allowed them to function as members of the Senate, National Assembly and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on filing their mandatory statements of assets and liabilities to the commission.

According to an ECP official, the parliamentarians, who were suspended over non-submission of their asset details, had now filed their statements of assets and liabilities and fulfilled the legal requirement in conformance with the relevant election laws.

In total, the membership of eight Senators, 25 members of the National Assembly (MNAs) and three members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly have been restored following their submission of statements of assets and liabilities to the commission.

The eight Senators include Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Syed Waqar Mehdi, Jam Mahtab Hussain Dahar, Taj Haider, Shaukat Fayyaz Ahmed Tarin, Hidayatullah Khan, Dost Muhammad Khan and Molana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.

While 25 National Assembly members including Saleem Rehman, Saleh Muhammad, Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, Nisar Ahmad Cheema, Zulfiqar Ahmad, Azhar Qayyum Nahra, Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, Muhammad Shahbaz Babar, Ahmad Hussain, Abdul Rehman Khan Kanju, Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema, Makhdoom Syed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani, Mahar Irshad Irshad Ahmad Khan, Abid Hussain Bhayo, Nauman Islam Shaikh, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Mir Munawar Ali Talpur, Syed Naveed Qamar, Muhammad Israr Tareen, Shakila Khalid Chaudhry, Ayesha Rajab Ali, Samina Matloob, Asiya Azeem, Dr. Seemin Abdul Rehman Bokhari and Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das.

The membership of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly including Fazal Hakeem Khan Yousafzai, Fazal Maula and Mufti Ubaid-ur-Rahman was also restored.

The Election Rules, 2017 provide that every member of an assembly and Senate would submit to the ECP on or before December 31st each year, a copy of his statement of assets and liabilities, including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children, as on June 30 on Form B.

The election rules also provide that the Commission on January 16, by an order, suspend the membership of a member of an assembly and Senate who fails to submit the statement of assets and liabilities by January 15, and such member will cease to function till he or she files the statement of assets and liabilities.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ECP had suspended the membership of 271 parliamentarians for non-submission of their statements of assets and liabilities.