The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday suspended the membership of 261 lawmakers of the senate, and national and provincial assemblies for failing to submit their statements of assets and liabilities.
According to ECP's notification, the membership of seven senators, 71 National Assembly members, 84 lawmakers of Punjab Assembly, 50 members of Sindh Assembly, 38 provincial assembly members of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and 11 legislators of Balochistan have been suspended.
The notification stated that the lawmakers "shall cease to function as such members with immediate effect and till such statements are submitted by them".
The suspended parliamentarians include former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Muhammad Safdar, minister of state for home affairs Talal Chaudhry, Religious Affairs minister Sardar Yousaf and former National Assembly speaker Fehmida Mirza.
In 2002, the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf had introduced the Representation of People Act, according to which, all parliamentarians are required to submit details of their assets, including those of their spouses and children to the ECP by September 30 every year.
Last year, 336 lawmakers were suspended by the ECP for failure to submit their financial statements to the commission.
