DawnNews quoted an additional secretary of the ECP as saying that the decision to extend the deadline was made on the request of the parliament.— File Photo by Dawn

ISLAMABAD: Upon the request of the parliamentarians, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday extended the deadline for submission of declarations by lawmakers  that they did not hold dual citizenship until Nov 30, DawnNews reported.

DawnNews quoted Additional Secretary of the ECP Mohammad Afzal Khan as saying that the decision to extend the deadline was made on the request of the members of the parliament.

Khan further said that the by-election for PS-21 in Sindh, which was scheduled for Nov 17,  was postponed to Dec 4 on account of Muharram.

According to sources in the ECP, there were 212 lawmakers, including some leading politicians of the PPP, MQM and the opposition’s PML-N, who did not submit the affidavit by Nov 9, the deadline that had been set by the ECP after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the dual nationality case.

Besides this, the ECP was also to  decide about affidavits submitted by dozens of lawmakers without the required attestation.

Those who had failed to submit the affidavits include 75 members of the National Assembly and 29 senators. Besides, there are 76 members from the provincial assembly of Sindh, 24 of Punjab, seven of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one of Balochistan who had yet to file the declarations.

The ECP, through a letter on Oct 9, had asked MPs and provincial lawmakers to submit within one month declarations which should be attested by oath commissioners to affirm that they did not posses dual nationality, warning that those failing to submit the affidavit on oath would be considered dual nationals and action could be initiated against them.

The apex court, disqualifying 11 legislators on Sept 20 for holding dual nationalities, had directed the ECP to obtain fresh declarations on oath from all legislators to examine their cases individually.