ISLAMABAD – The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday reserved the verdict on a petition seeking disqualification of ruling party senator Faisal Vawda.
Reports in local media said ECP held a hearing on pleas against the ruling party leader where the counsel informed the commission that returning officer was provided with the documents of passport cancellation.
A three-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja heard the petition filed against Vawda’s dual citizenship in the country’s federal capital.
During the hearing, the petitioner, Qadir Mandokhail said that this was the 30th hearing of the case. He lamented saying ECP has been seeking clarification from the senator for the past one and a half years, which he has not submitted as yet.
The chief election commissioner (CEC) said ECP was in no mood to give further time to the PTI leader to submit his reply in the case.
The petitioner argued that the returning officer’s (RO) judgment in 2018 on the PTI senator’s dual citizenship was blemished. “Instead of rejecting Vawda’s nomination papers, the RO rejected my papers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Vawda’s counsel Barrister Moeed started giving his concluding remarks in the case. When the counsel told the ECP that he had shown to the RO the documents of cancellation of his client’s passport, the CEC asked him whether cancellation of the passport amounted to giving up the foreign country’s nationality.
Pakistanis holding dual nationality were not given computerized national identity cards (CNICs), while the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) had issued to Vawda the CNIC on May 29, 2018, the proof of which had also been provided to the authorities, Vawda counsel said.
CEC then responded that it would have to be looked into whether the NADRA had the authority to issue CNICs. The counsel responded that NADRA issued the CNIC only after the approval of Intelligence Bureau.
He also argued that Vawda was no more a member of the National Assembly (MNA), how he could be disqualified now. He accused the petitioner of moving the ECP just for the sake of ‘media trial’ of the case.
Faisal Vawda submitted false affidavit in dual nationality case, rules IHC
PTI leader during the hearing said he was not fully aware about the rules as a candidate for the seat of MNA. “I am being dragged into the case without any reason. Here I want to emphasize that the petitioner went straight to the election commission rather than knocking at the doors of a tribunal first,” he opined.
