Under clause 42 A of the People's Representation Act 1976 and clause 25 A of the Senate Election Rules 1975 every member of the provincial and national legislature has to file the details of assets of his own and his dependents by September 30 every year.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission restored on Tuesday membership of 19 lawmakers, including six federal ministers, suspended for their failure to submit statements of assets and liabilities even three weeks after the last date specified for the purpose under the law.

Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo and Minister of State for Privatisation will get another chance to submit their statements of assets with the Election Commission on Wednesday (today) if they want to attend the session of the Senate scheduled to start at 4pm. Nine members of the National Assembly, four Senators and six members of the three provincial assemblies, except Punjab, were among those whose membership was restored at a meeting of the Election Commission held with acting Chief Election Commissioner Justice Shakir Ullah Jan in the chair on Tuesday.

The nine members of the National Assembly are: Noor Alam Khan, who was the richest member of the House according to the wealth declared by the members in their statements last year, Sardar Saleem Haider Khan, Mohammad Asim Nazir, Sheikh Waqas Akram, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Khwaja Mohammad Asif, Sardar Mohammad Irfan Dogar, Jamshed Ahmed Dasti and Syed Naveed Qamar.

Former Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, Punjab Government Spokesman Pervaiz Rashid, Dr Asim Hussain and Rehman Malik are the four members of the Senate whose membership was restored four days after suspension.

Two members of the Balochistan Assembly restored on Tuesday included Minister for Youth Affairs Abdul Khaliq Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister's adviser on planning and development Husun Bano.

Three members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa include Labour Minister Haji Sher Azam Khan Wazir, Ghulam Qadir Khan Bettani, and Munawar Khan Advocate.

Qazi Shams Din Rajar is the only member of the Sindh Assembly whose membership was restored on Tuesday.

Under clause 42 A of the People's Representation Act 1976 and clause 25 A of the Senate Election Rules 1975 every member of the provincial and national legislature has to file the details of assets of his own and his dependents by September 30 every year.

The commission under this law is bound to notify the names of those who do not submit these details on October 15 barring them from taking part in the proceedings of their houses.

The EC sends names of these members to the Senate chairman and speakers of the assemblies after suspension as under the law these members cannot take part in the proceedings of their legislatures nor take part in voting process in case legislation is passed.

This time October 15 fell on Saturday — a day after the issuance of notification of two weekly holidays, giving sufficient time to the members to avoid their suspension.

But even three weeks after the last date for filing their statements more than 230 members of the Senate and National and the provincial assemblies did not bother to meet the constitutional requirement.