Shehryar, Nusrat, 18 other MPs’ membership remains suspended: ECP

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan continues to display the list of 20 lawmakers on its website, including PTI’s Sheharyar Afridi and PML-F’s Nusrat Bano Sehar Abbasi, who remain suspended since October 15 last year for their inability to file the statement of their assets and liabilities to the commission.

Both have made headlines in newspapers and their names have been flashed on electronic media for right or wrong reasons. A total of 20 legislators, including Afridi, two members of the Punjab Assembly and 17 of Sindh Assembly remain suspended.

Members of Parliament and four provincial assemblies are bound to submit the details of their assets and liabilities to the Election Commission every year by September 30. The Election Commission notifies names of those who fail to comply with this legal requirement on October 15. 

However, how and why the PTI legislator Afridi and Ms. Abbasi managed to attend the respective legislature’s proceedings is anybody’s guess. “Yes, we not only notify the names of non-filers of the statement of assets and liabilities but also share this information with the concerned legislatures for barring them from attending sessions,” said a senior ECP official, when The News approached him for his comment on the matter.

Afridi is the only member of the National Assembly who has not submitted the complete details of his assets despite passage of more than three  months after the deadline. He was elected from NA-14 Kohat during the general election, whereas Ms. Abbasi made her way to the Sindh Assembly on women’s reserved seat on PML-F’s ticket.

As long as a lawmaker remains suspended, he or she cannot attend the respective legislature’s session. However, both Afridi and Ms. Abbasi have not only been attending the legislatures’ sessions but also concerned standing committees’ meetings.

PTI legislator Afridi has claimed that he has already submitted the details of his assets to the Election Commission in November last. "If I did not comply with the legal requirement, then why was I allowed to enter the assembly", he questioned. There is no word from the member of Sindh Assembly, who also remains suspended and her name is among 19 other suspended legislators. 

The Election Commission has imparted training to 29 district election commissioners here at a training workshop on legal framework with international standards of a bridge module. They have been given training in nine fields, including unification of election laws and the proposed election laws. It is interesting to note that the proposed elections continue to draw criticism from various segments of the society while political parties calling for a review of the same for giving them a comprehensive look.