Faisal Vawda no more a Senator, ECP disqualifies in Dual Nationality Case

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Vawda as a Member of the National Assembly (MNA) over his dual nationality at the time of contesting the NA election on a Karachi seat in the 2018 general elections.

The commission said Vawda had submitted a “false affidavit” when submitting nomination papers.

The ECP also declared him ineligible for holding the seat of a senator and ordered to withdraw the notification appointing him as senator.

However, Vawda can approach the Supreme Court (SC) against the verdict, said the ECP.

ECP had reserved the verdict on Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhel’s plea seeking Vawda’s disqualification on December 23, 2021.

During the last hearing, Mandokhel and Vawda had appeared before an ECP bench. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja had asked Mandokhel whether he wanted to present more documents or give additional arguments.

Mandokhel had said it was the 30th hearing of the case but he could not get the answers to his questions. The PPP leader had said, “ECP has been issuing warnings for the last one-and-a-half years.”

Mandokhel was of the view that Faisal Vawda had held United States (US) nationality at the time of filing his election nomination papers. He said that the concerned residing officer (RO) was not punished as he had rejected his papers instead of disqualifying Vawda.

The PPP leader said that Vawda had falsely declared in an oath to the ECP that he did not hold any foreign nationality. The PTI leader had concealed his dual nationality during the scrutiny of his nomination papers, said Mandokhel.

Vawda’s counsel rejected the allegations, saying that his client had never applied for another country’s nationality. He said Vawda was born in the US and that his client had cancelled his American passport.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the ECP reserved its verdict in Vawda’s disqualification case.

The News reported in January 2020 that Vawda was a dual national at the time of filing his nomination papers to the ECP to contest the 2018 general elections. Vawda submitted his nomination papers on June 11, 2018, which were approved by the election body a week later on June 18, the report said.

However, the Vawda applied for the renunciation of his nationality with the US consulate at Karachi four days after his nomination papers were approved act on June 22, 2018, the report revealed.