National Assembly Secretariat on Monday allowed 28 MNAs to attend the National Assembly's session despite the fact that their membership has been suspended by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for not filing annual details of their assets.
The ECP suspended membership of 231 parliamentarians including members of Senate, National Assembly and provincial assemblies on October 21 for not submitting details of their assets to the Commission under the People's Representation Act. Under the law, each and every parliamentarian is bound to submit statement of his/her assets to the Commission. According to ECP, as many as 28 MNAs have not yet submitted statements of their assets.
Despite the ECP letter to the Speaker National Assembly intimating her about the suspension of the members, the MNAs including Atta-ur-Rehman, former minister for SAFRON Najmuddin Khan, Captain Muhammad Safdar (Retd), former minister for Education Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali, Khurram Jahangir Wattoo attended the National Assembly's session.
Out of the total 1170 parliamentarians, 1110 members have so far filed their statements of assets. The commission is still waiting to receive the statements by the remaining 56 MPs. All the members of Senate have submitted their returns while 28 MNAs are yet to submit details of their assets. As many as 17 MPAs of Punjab Assembly, three of Sindh Assembly, seven each of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan assemblies are yet to submit statements of their assets to the ECP.