The National Assembly on Wednesday passed the Elections Amendment Bill, 2026, seeking to keep confidential the disclosure of lawmakers’ assets and liabilities if such an undertaking poses a serious threat to the life or safety of the member or their family.
Tabled by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia Marri, the bill now requires the approval of the Senate and President Asif Ali Zardari before it can become law.
The proposed amendment to Section 138 of the Elections Act seeks to insert a proviso into the legislation. “Provided that the speaker of the concerned assembly or, as the case may be, the chairman of the Senate may, 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by a ruling delivered in the chamber, determine that the statement of assets and liabilities of that member shall not be published publicly by the [election] commission if such publication would pose a serious threat to the life or safety of the members or, as the case may be, his family,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,” it states.
The existing law makes no such allowances, requiring MNAs, MPAs and senators to submit a statement of their assets and liabilities, as well as those of their spouses and dependent children, to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on or before Dec. 31 annually. These statements are then made public in the official gazette.
The bill was tabled a week after the ECP—as it does annually—suspended the membership of several lawmakers for failing to submit their financial statements. In this year’s round, the ECP suspended 32 MNAs, 50 Punjab Assembly members, 33 Sindh Assembly lawmakers, 28 KP Assembly members, seven Balochistan Assembly members and nine senators.
Among the prominent lawmakers currently suspended are Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik, PMLN’s Abid Sher Ali and Murad Saeed of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. Sindh Speaker Syed Awais Qadir Shah and provincial minister Saeed Ghani have also had their memberships suspended.
Usually, the suspensions last for a few weeks before the lawmakers submit their returns, allowing them to return to their respective houses.