Islamabad man challenges PTI minister Faisal Vawda’s Senate win
Islamabad – Staff Reporter:
A lawyer has challenged the Senate Election 2021 win of Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda.
Advocate Mian Faisal has submitted a petition in the Islamabad High Court and requested that the notification on his win should be halted.
“A disqualification case against Vawda is already underway,” the petitioner said. “The minister has resigned from the National Assembly as well.”
Until a verdict on the previous case comes out, Vawda’s Senate election win should not be taken into consideration, the petitioner said.
Disqualification case
Last month before the Senate elections, Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhail filed a petition in the Sindh High Court’s election tribunal. He challenged the returning officer’s decision to approve Vawda’s nomination papers.
Mandokhail said that Vawda hid the truth about his US citizenship, adding that he doesn’t deserve to hold any public post.
On March 3, after casting his Senate vote, the PTI leader resigned from his National Assembly seat and requested the court to dismiss the case.
Vawda filed on Monday a petition in the Sindh High Court seeking to prevent the Election Commission of Pakistan from proceeding in a disqualification case against him. In his plea, the PTI leader requested the court to issue a stay order.
In a hearing on Tuesday, the Sindh High Court summoned responses over Vawda’s disqualification case from the electoral body, deputy attorney general, and other parties by March 16.
Vawda’s dual nationality
A news report revealed that Vawda filed his nomination papers for the 2018 General Election on June 11, 2018, when he still held US nationality. His papers were approved on June 18, 2018. The federal minister had filed papers to give up his US citizenship on June 22, 2018 and he was issued a certificate on June 25. 2019. The process usually takes weeks or even months.
A petition was filed for his disqualification under section Article 62(i)(f). The law deems it necessary for all members of Parliament to be ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’. They are prohibited from concealing information about their assets.
On the other hand, Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution says that “a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Parliament if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.”
On October 17, 2018, two PML-N leaders were disqualified by the Supreme Court for holding dual nationalities. Sadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar had dual citizenship when they filed their nomination papers.