Eighty-four lawmakers were barred from attending the session of Punjab Assembly on Tuesday, a day after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) suspended their membership for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.
A total of 74 MPAs belonging to the ruling PML-N were barred from entering the House after their suspension by ECP. The barred lawmakers include ministers Iqbal Ahmad Chandar and Chaudhry Shafiq.
The suspended lawmakers from other political parties who were not allowed to enter include:
- 6 MPAs from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
- 2 MPAs from PPP
- 2 MPAs from PML-Zia
The ECP on Monday suspended the membership of 261 legislators for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.
According to an official of the ECP, seven senators, 71 members of the National Assembly, 84 members of the Punjab Assembly, 50 members of the Sindh Assembly, 38 members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and 11 members of the Balochistan Assembly had failed to submit their statements of assets.
He said that the ECP had through a notification informed these parliamentarians that they would cease to function as legislators with immediate effect and till such statements were submitted by them.
So far, 905 legislators had submitted their yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, spouses and dependents to the ECP.
The official said that it was 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.
