BEIJING • Twenty-five Chinese lawmakers will not be attending this year's top parliamentary session because they have either been kicked out on corruption charges, or put under investigation for graft. Nearly 3,000 members of the National People's Congress (NPC) will meet in the capital starting from Saturday.

All NPC delegates have to serve a five-year term, but some of those who attended last year's meeting are absent this time, reported Cai- xin magazine.

The committee that runs the legislature between its full meetings said in reports over the past year that six members were ousted because they were the subject of corruption probes. Nineteen others resigned because they were suspected of graft.

The 25 NPC delegates held posts in a range of fields, including the civil service, state-owned enterprises and the military.

One of them is Qiu He, the deputy party boss of Yunnan. Another is Xu Jianyi, chairman of state-owned First Automobile Works Group.

Both were arrested just after last year's legislative meeting amid corruption probes and were later charged with taking bribes.

Another figure who lost his NPC seat is Su Shulin, the former governor of Fujian. He became the subject of a graft probe in October and was fired a month later, reported Caixin.

China has jailed dozens of senior officials since President Xi Jinping launched a sweeping campaign against deep-seated graft after assuming office three years ago.

Earlier this week, China's ruling Communist Party announced that it has expelled two senior officials in Xinjiang for corruption and transferred them to prosecutors. The officials are Alimjan Maimaitiming, 56, a former secretary general in the government of Xinjiang, and Xie Hui, 53, a deputy head of the Xinjiang public security bureau, reported state media.