The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set a deadline of December 31 for all members of parliament and provincial assemblies to submit their statements of assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependents. The ECP requires all parliamentarians to submit their yearly statements of assets and liabilities, including similar details for their spouses and dependent children, as of the preceding June 30 on Form B for the 2023-2024 financial year – a mandatory requirement under Section 137 of the Elections Act, 2017. The Commission, on the first day of January each year will publish names of members, who fail to submit the requisite statement of assets and liabilities including assets and liabilities within the specified period.

The commission will on January 16 by an order suspend the membership of a member of an Assembly or Senate, who fails to submit the statement of assets and liabilities by the fifteenth day of January and such Member shall cease to function till he files the statement of assets and liabilities. The ECP further said that any member submitting fake statement of assets and liabilities under this section in material particulars may, within 120 days from the date submission of the statement, be proceeded against for committing the offence of corrupt practice. The ECP said that the prescribed form, along with instructions and guidelines prepared in this regard, can be obtained free of cost from the Election Commission of Pakistan Secretariat,  Islamabad, offices of provincial election commissioners in each province, Senate Secretariat, National Assembly, and secretariats of provincial assemblies. Form B can also be downloaded from the ECP’s website www.ecp.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan