ECP restores membership of 25 parliamentarians in National Assembly, Senate.

ISLAMABAD -- The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday restored membership of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf dissident Noor Alam Khan among 25 parliamentarians in the National Assembly and the Senate as they submitted their annual financial statements.

A day earlier, the electoral authority suspended the membership of 271 parliamentarians for their failure in submitting details of their financial records.

According to the notification issued by the ECP, the membership of Leader of the Opposition in NA Raja Riaz Ahmed, Raza Rabbani, Syed Basit Ahmad Sultan, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Musarrat Asif Khawaja, Shahida Rahman and others have also been restored.

In addition to this, the membership of Ahmad Khan, Anwarul Haq Kakar and two others have been restored in the Senate.

Membership of 21 lawmakers in the NA and four in the Senate have been restored today.

It is pertinent to mention here that those suspended include 136 members from the parliament's Lower House and 21 from the Upper House.

On Monday, the electoral authority also suspended the membership of provincial assembly members including 48, 12 and 54 from Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa respectively.

Every member of an assembly and senate is liable to submit relevant details of their assets and liabilities to the election commission before December 31 every year. The members must also disclose the financial statements of their spouse and dependent children on Form-B every year on June 30.

"In pursuance of sub-section (3) of Section 137 ibid and in the exercise of all other powers enabling it on that behalf, the Election Commission is pleased to notify hereunder, for information...