ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has asked lawmakers and all registered political parties to submit statements of their accounts by September 30 for the financial year that ended on June 30, 2016. The ECP on Thursday issued two separate notifications: one for federal and provincial legislators to file yearly statements of assets and liabilities of their own, their spouses and dependents by September 30; the second notification is a reminder to political parties that they are bound to submit the latest details of their accounts to the ECP every year. Section 42A of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 and Section 25A of the Senate (Elections) Act, 1975, make it binding on every elected member of the assembly and Senate to submit statements of assets and liabilities. Article 13 of the Political Parties Order, 2002 stipulates that every political party should submit details of their accounts within 60 days of the close of each financial year. It should be a “consolidated statement of accounts” of the party, duly audited by a chartered accountant. The ECP has fixed September 30 as the last date for political parties to file statements of their accounts. Moreover, prescribed forms can also be downloaded from the ECP’s website. Meanwhile, the ECP has sought a written reply from Member of National Assembly (MNA) Captain (r) Mohammad Safdar until August 9 for concealing assets of his wife in his nomination papers. A five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Sardar Ahmed Raza Khan, conducted the proceedings of a plea filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Nawabzada Salahuddin for the disqualification of Capt (r) Safdar. During the course of the hearing, the counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf informed the bench that Capt (r) Safdar had not mentioned in his nomination papers the ownership of foreign properties of his wife. He prayed the ECP’s bench to disqualify Capt (r) Safdar from the National Assembly seat. Senator Nehal Hashmi, the counsel for Capt (r) Safdar, argued that this petition could not be heard, as all allegations levelled on his client were “fabricated”. He asked the bench to dismiss the plea over non-production of evidence. Separately, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice (r) Sadar Raza Khan and newly appointed members of the ECP have conducted a meeting for holding by-elections in Punjab and Sindh. During the meeting, the ECP decided to issue fresh polling date of by-elections in five constituencies, said an official of the ECP while talking to APP. He said that the ECP also decided to issue notification of the returned candidates who were elected in the recently held by-elections. On June 16, the CEC had postponed by-elections in five constituencies of Punjab and Sindh – NA-63 (Jhelum), NA-162 (Sahiwal), PP-232 (Vehari), PP-240 (DG Khan) and PS-127 (Karachi) – because the ECP was incomplete.