Elections Amendment Bill now requires approval from Senate and assent from president before it can become law
Saifullah Ansar
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly (NA) on Wednesday passed the Elections Amendment Bill, 2026, seeking to allow the withholding of public disclosure of lawmakers’ assets and liabilities if such disclosure is deemed to pose a serious threat to the life or safety of the member or their family.
Under the proposed amendment to Section 138 of the Elections Act, the bill seeks to insert a proviso stating: “Provided that the speaker of the concerned assembly or, as the case may be, the chairman of the senate my, on an application made by a member and for reasons to be recorded in writing, by a ruling delivered in the chamber, determine that the statement of assets and liabilities of that member shall not be published publicly by the commission if such publication would pose a serious threat to the life or safety of the members or, as the case may be, his family, for a period not exceeding one year at a time and subject to the condition that a complete and true statement of assets and liabilities shall be submitted confidentially to the election commission.”
The bill was moved by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmaker Shazia Atta Marri in the lower house.
The bill now requires approval from the Senate and assent from the president before it can become law.Under the existing law, members of the National Assembly, Senate and provincial assemblies are required to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities — including those of their spouses and dependent children — to the Election Commission on or before December 31 each year. Section 138 of the Elections Act further mandates the ECP to publish these declarations in the official gazette.
The development comes a week after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) suspended the membership of as many as 159 lawmakers belonging to different legislatures for failing to submit their financial statements.
According to the notification issued by the ECP, the membership of 32 MNAs, 50 Punjab Assembly members, 33 Sindh Assembly lawmakers, 28 KP Assembly members, seven Balochistan Assembly members and nine senators had been suspended.
The election watchdog also suspended the membership of nine Senators, including Federal Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, PML-N’s Abid Sher Ali and Murad Saeed of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
The ECP also suspended the memberships of 50 members of the Punjab Assembly, including Rana Sikandar Hayat, Adnan Dogar, and Aamir Hayat Hiraj.
Similarly, 33 members of the Sindh Assembly were suspended, including Speaker Syed Awais Qadir Shah, former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and provincial minister Saeed Ghani.
Moreover, the Election Commission suspended the memberships of 28 lawmakers from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and seven from the Balochistan Assembly.
