ECP Reserves Verdict on Vawda’s Disqualification Petition

Web Desk — Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday reserved its verdict on petitions filed against PTI senator Faisal Vawda demanding his disqualification due to concealing his dual nationality.

In January 2020, the News reported that Vawda was a dual national at the time he filed his nomination papers to the ECP to contest the 2018 general elections. Vawda submitted his nomination papers on June 11, 2018, which were approved a week later on June 18, according to the report. Four days later, on June 22, 2018, the PTI MNA applied with the US consulate in Karachi to renounce his nationality, according to the report.

On January 21, 2020, Qadir Khan Mandokhel, Mian Faisal, and Mian Asif Mehmood filed petitions in the ECP seeking Vawda’s disqualification. In 2020, Dost Ali filed a similar petition challenging Vawda’s election as a member of the National Assembly.

The bench, comprising of Shah Muhammad Jatoi and Nisar Ahmed Durrani, was headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

Lawyer Moeed, counsel for Vawda, submitted the senator’s birth certificate to the ECP. He said Vawda was an American citizen by birth and was born in California. “Faisal Wawda canceled his foreign passport before submitting his nomination papers,” he said, adding that the senator did not lie.