ECP disqualifies Faisal Vawda under Article 62-1(f) of the Constitution over alleged concealment of his dual nationality
ISLAMABAD, Feb 09 (SABAH): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday disqualified Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator and former minister for water resources Muhammad Faisal Vawda as a lawmaker over alleged concealment of his dual nationality at the time of contesting the National Assembly election on a Karachi seat in the 2018 general elections. The commission has disqualified Faisal Vawda under Article 62-1(f) of the Constitution.
The three-member bench of the ECP headed by Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the verdict.
The ECP also directed Vawda to return within two months the salary and other benefits he had received as a minister and parliamentarian. It also withdrew the notification declaring Vawda’s victory on a Senate seat in polls held last year.
The vote Vawda had cast in the Senate polls held on March 10 as a member of the National Assembly was also “invalid”, according to the short order announced by the chief election commissioner.
The ECP said Vawda had submitted a “false affidavit” with his nomination papers. The bench gave the observation that Vawda resigned from the National Assembly seat to cover his crime.
However, the ECP stated that Vawda can still reach out to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict for his disqualification.
Disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution means the PTI leader will not be able to contest elections again.
Qadir Khan Mandokhel, Mian Faisal and Mian Asif Mehmood subsequently filed petitions in the ECP on January 21, 2020, seeking Vawda’s disqualification.
A citizen, Dost Ali, also filed a similar petition in 2020 challenging Vawda’s election as a member of the National Assembly.
The petition stated that when Vawda filed his nomination papers for contesting elections, he held dual nationality as he was a US citizen as well.
Speaking to the media after the verdict, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhel said the PTI leader concealed his dual nationality in the nomination papers he submitted to the ECP over three-and-half years ago.
The PPP leader termed the election watchdog’s decision to disqualify Vawda for life a “victory for the PPP leadership”. He said the PPP will also clinch the Senate seat left vacant after Vawda’s disqualification from the upper house.
“This puppet government will fall as well when our long march will reach Islamabad,” he said, alluding to the long march being organised by the PPP in the last week of February.
Qadir Khan Mandokhel, said he had been visiting courts for nearly four years in connection with the case. He thanked the PPP leadership for following the case and guiding him throughout.
He termed the ECP’s directive to Vawda to return all benefits he had received as a parliamentarian a “very good precedent”.
“I believe the first [card] of this puppet government has fallen,” he said, adding that when PPP protesters would reach Islamabad during their planned long march next month, the PTI government would be “ousted”.
Reacting to the development, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari tweeted, “One more PTI wicket down.”
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed denied that the judgement was a “jolt” for the PTI, saying that Vawda would approach the Supreme Court. “I am hopeful he (Vawda) would exercise his legal right,” he added while speaking to the media in Islamabad.
Later in the day, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also downplayed the verdict, terming it “not a big thing”.
Talking to reporters in Peshawar, Chaudhry said Vawda would approach the courts against the judgement disqualifying him. “Where is the storm? It has not occurred anywhere.”