From Rs218,000 to Rs519,000: MPs grant themselves 138% pay raise as NA passes bill

ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers secured a massive 138% pay raise on Tuesday as the National Assembly passed the Members of Parliament Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill 2025 with a majority vote.

The bill proposes raising parliamentarians' salaries from Rs218,000 to Rs519,000, aligning them with federal secretaries' pay. Already approved by the Senate, the bill now awaits the President of Pakistan’s signature to take effect.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Romina Khurshid Alam tabled the bill, with neither opposition nor treasury lawmakers raising any objection to the whopping increase in their salaries.

The bill seeks to amend the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974 [The Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2025].

On January 26, the National Assembly’s Finance Committee gave the bill a go-ahead in a meeting chaired by the National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

Sworn political rivals from all parliamentary parties, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), PML-N, and others, were on the same page regarding a massive increase in their salaries.

It is pertinent to know that the Punjab Assembly, in December, had also unanimously approved a bill to significantly increase lawmakers' salaries, raising them from Rs76,000 to Rs400,000.

Apart from the tweaks to the parliamentarians' remuneration, the assembly also hiked the provincial ministers' salaries from Rs100,000 to Rs960,000.

The speaker's salary was increased from Rs125,000 to Rs950,000, whereas that of the deputy speaker was hiked to Rs800,000 from the previous Rs120,000.

Furthermore, parliamentary secretaries are to be paid Rs451,000 as opposed to the previous amount of Rs83,000; adviser to the chief minister from Rs100,000 to Rs665,000; special assistant to the chief minister from Rs100,000 to Rs665,000.