Lawmakers Barred from Punjab Assembly
Eighty-four (84) lawmakers were barred from attending the session of Punjab Assembly a day after the Election Commission of Pakistan suspended their membership for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.
The Election Commission barred a total of seventy-four (74) Members of Parliamentary Assembly belonging to PML-N from entering the House after their suspension. The barred lawmakers include Ministers Iqbal Ahmad Chandar and Chaudhry Shafiq.
The suspended lawmakers from other political parties that were not allowed to enter include:
- 6 MPAs from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
- 2 MPAs from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)
- 2 MPAs from PML-Zia.
The Election Commission on the 16th of October suspended the membership of two hundred and sixty-one (261) legislators for not submitting their statements of assets and liabilities.
According to an official of the Commission, seven (7) senators, seventy-one (71) members of the National Assembly, eighty-four (84) members of the Punjab Assembly, fifty (50) members of the Sindh Assembly, thirty-eight (38) members of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly along with eleven (11) members of the Baluchistan Assembly failed to submit the statements of their assets.
The Election Commission through a notification informed these Parliamentarians that they would cease to function as legislators till such statements were submitted with immediate effect.
So far, nine hundred and five (905) legislators have submitted their yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, spouses and dependents to the Commission.
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 as well as the National and Provincial Assemblies.
