Naya Pakistan, Purane Loag! Almost three dozen newly elected Members of Pakistan’s National Assembly (MNAs) face criminal charges. 34 of them belong to five major parties along with one independent MNA.
According to a new report titled “Parliament Monitor” released by Free & Fair Election Network (FAFEN) Parliament Monitor, 18 of them belong to Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is in second position with nine MNAs and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) occupies third spot. One each belong to Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
Also, “Around one-third (112) legislators have declared their assets worth between Rs11 million and Rs50 million while 58 had the assets worth one to 10 million rupees. As many as 12 legislators have assets having worth ranging between Rs501 million and Rs1 billion while five legislators have the assets less than one million rupees. Furthermore, the lower house of the parliament has eight billionaires with PTI’s Noor Alam Khan being the wealthiest legislator. His net worth, as declared on Form B of nomination papers, is more than Rs3.2 billion. Among eight billionaires, four belong to PTI, two to PML-N and one each to PPP and Awami National Party (ANP). These include PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, PML-N’s Ehsanul Haq Bajwa and Noorul Hassan Tanvir, PTI’s Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, Sher Akbar Khan and Muhammad Yaqoob Shaikh as well as ANP’s Amir Haider Azam Khan. Five legislators, on the other hand, have less than one million worth of assets. As many as two of these legislators belong to PTI, and one each to PML-N, MQM and PPP.”
These facts “are based on information contained in Form B and affidavits as annexed to the nomination papers submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by the candidates ahead of July 25 polls.”
