ISLAMABAD: Only 98 sitting members of the upper house of the Parliament— out of a total of 1,191 seats of the lawmakers in the Senate and assemblies— would be required to file with the electoral body their annual wealth statements of the previous financial year 2022-23 by this year-end—a mandatory requirement under the relevant election laws.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) sought from the members of the senators, national and provincial assemblies, on Tuesday, the statements of their assets and liabilities of the previous financial year latest by the coming December 31.
Keeping in view that all five assemblies stand dissolved presently, only 100-seat Senate is functional. Of these 100 seats, two are lying vacant on which elections are not possible due to incomplete electoral college on account of the dissolution of assemblies. This scenario indicates that remaining 98 senators would be required to submit their wealth statements with the ECP.
There were a total of 342 seats of the last National Assembly. Punjab Assembly had 371 seats, Sindh Assembly had 168 seats, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had 145 seats and Balochistan Assembly had 65 seats. Senate has 100 seats— making 1,191 the total number of the seats of the lawmakers of the Senate and the five assemblies.
Presently, the ECP’s delimitation drive for the assemblies is under way and it is not clear what would be the number of the seats of each assembly in the light of the delimitation once this exercise completes.
Section 137 of Elections Act 2017 provides that every member of an assembly and Senate shall submit to the commission, on or before December 31, each year, a copy of their statement of assets and liabilities including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on preceding June 30.
This section further provides that the ECP, on January 1 each year, through a press release, shall publish the names of legislators who failed to submit the requisite statement of assets and liabilities within the period specified. This law further says that the commission shall, on January 13, by an order, suspend the membership of a lawmaker who fails to submit the statement of assets and liabilities by January 15 and such member shall cease to function till he files the statement of assets and liabilities.
Moreover, the Section 137 provides that where a legislator submits the statement of assets and liabilities under this section which is found to be false in material particulars, they may, within 120 days from the date of submission of the statement, be proceeded against for committing the offence of corrupt practice.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
Comments
Comments are closed.