ECP to hear plea seeking Faisal Vawda’s disqualification on August 4

ECP to hear plea seeking Faisal Vawda’s disqualification on August 4

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will  on August 4 hear a petition seeking the disqualification of federal minister Faisal Vawda for hiding his dual nationality at the time of the 2018 general elections.

The ECP in its order today warned that if the parties in the case do not submit their responses in the next hearing, it will issue a verdict based on the record submitted to it. It added that either the parties in the case should appear before it themselves or they should send their lawyers.

Previously, the Election Commission had summoned the  minister on July 16 for allegedly concealing his dual nationality. 

The petition was filed by Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhel and others.

The dual citizenship case

Vawda had won the 2018 general election from Karachi’s NA-249 constituency.

In January this year, an investigative report published by The News had revealed that Vawda may have committed perjury by falsely declaring in an oath to the ECP that he did not hold any foreign nationality.

The report had revealed that Vawda had a US passport at the time he filed his nomination papers on June 11, 2018. The minister remained an American national even at the time the scrutiny of his nomination papers was completed.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan in a past judgment has categorically ruled that candidates who hold dual nationality are supposed to submit a renunciation certificate of the foreign nationality along with their nomination papers.

The same judgment has previously led to the disqualification of various lawmakers, notable among whom were PML-N senators Saadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar.