27 NPC deputies forced out for corruption

As a result of the national anti-graft drive, 27 deputies to China's top legislature have been dismissed or forced to resign since last March after they were placed under investigation for corruption.

According to thepaper.cn, one of the leading websites for exposing graft to the public, the deputies include government officials and heads of State-owned enterprises. An official familiar with National People's Congress procedures said more than a dozen newly elected deputies will fill the vacancies, bringing the number of deputies to an estimated 2,960 in this year's session.

The NPC and local people's congresses at all levels are the organs through which the people exercise state power. NPC deputies serve for five years and meet annually in a session that lasts about 10 days, starting from March 5. In 2014, 2,983 members represented more than 1.3 billion people in China in the session.

Under the country's Constitution, the NPC is endowed with the power to legislate, to oversee the operations of the government and to elect major State officers, including those in administrative, judicial and procuratorial organs.

Among the recently dismissed deputies are four who "seriously violated Party discipline and laws", a euphemism for corruption. They are Li Zhongjun, former chief of a grain depot of China Grain Reserves Corp in Heilongjiang province; Feng Jun, former general manager of State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power Co; Lu Wucheng, former deputy head of the top legislature in Gansu province; and Liu Zheng, former deputy head of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army.

Three deputies resigned after being accused of "serious violations of Party discipline". They are Cao Yong, former head of the Commerce Department in Anhui province; Liang Yimin, former Party chief in Maoming, Guangdong province; and Huang Shunfu, former head of Sichuan Provincial Investment Group.

The first plenary session of the first NPC held in Beijing in 1954 set the pattern for the system of people's congresses. On Thursday, the third plenary session of the 12th NPC will convene at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.