Financial statements: 264 lawmakers yet to submit details

Senior ECP official says the commission will continue to accept statements till October 15.

ISLAMABAD:

The September 30 deadline for the lawmakers to submit yearly statements of assets and liabilities with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has already passed and still there are 264 members of parliament and provincial assemblies who are yet to comply , The Express Tribune has learnt.

As a mandatory requirement under Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act 1976 and Section 25A of the Senate (Elections) Act, 1975, all members of the parliament and the provincial assemblies are required to submit yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, their spouses and dependents to the ECP by September 30.

In case a statement of a member is found to be false in material, “he may be proceeded against under Section 82 for committing the offence of corrupt practice.”

A senior ECP official told The Express Tribune on Tuesday that the ECP had received yearly statements of 905 legislators, both from the parliament and the provincial assemblies.

Although Nawaz Sharif has not submitted the declaration himself, he had requested the ECP for two more days on September 30, citing his foreign visit as the reason for delay.

According to details, the ECP has received statements from 96 senators, 273 members of National Assembly, 300 members of Punjab Assembly and 125 members of the Sindh Assembly. Meanwhile 65 and 46 members of the K-P and the Balochistan assemblies had also submitted their financial details respectively.

When asked whether the ECP would suspend members who had not submitted their statements, a senior official said that although the deadline had passed, “the commission would continue to accept statements till October 15.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 2^nd, 2013.