Islamabad: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) restored membership of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf dissident Noor Alam Khan among 25 parliamentarians in National Assembly and Senate as they submitted their annual financial statements.

A day earlier, electoral authority suspended membership of 271 parliamentarians for their failure in submitting details of their financial records. According to notification issued by ECP, membership of leader of opposition in NA Raja Riaz Ahmed, Raza Rabbani, Syed Basit Ahmad Sultan, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Musarrat Asif Khawaja, Shahida Rahman and others have also been restored.

In addition to this, membership of Ahmad Khan, Anwarul Haq Kakar and two others have been restored in Senate. Membership of 21 lawmakers in NA and four in Senate have been restored. Those suspended include 136 members from Parliament’s Lower House and 21 from Upper House.

On Monday, electoral authority suspended membership of provincial assembly members including 48, 12 and 54 from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa respectively.

Every member of an assembly and senate is liable to submit relevant details of their assets and liabilities to Election Commission before December 31 every year. Members must also disclose financial statements of their spouse and dependent children on Form-B every year on June 30.

Prominent senators who have had their membership suspended include Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Sania Nishtar, Azam Swati, Aon Abbas and Zarqa Suharwardy Taimur, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Senator Kamran Michael and Pakistan Peoples’ Party senators Taj Haider and Syed Waqar Mehdi among others.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 18 2023

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