Faisal Vawda’s Senate nomination challenged

A lawyer has challenged the Senate nomination of Water Resources Minister Faisal Vawda.

Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhail filed a petition in the election tribunal. He has challenged the returning officer’s decision to approve Vawda’s nomination papers.

Mandokhail said that Vawda hid the truth about his US citizenship, adding that he doesn’t deserve to hold any public post.

The returning officer did not listen to any reservations against Vawda’s appointment, he claimed. The returning officer’s actions were illegal and unconstitutional.

Vawda’s dual nationality

A news report revealed that Vawda filed his nomination papers for 2018 General Election on June 11, 2018 when he still held US nationality. His papers were approved on June 18, 2018. The federal minister had filed papers to give up his US citizenship on June 22, 2018 and he was issued a certificate on June 25. 2019. The process usually takes weeks or even months, according to The News.

A petition was filed for his disqualification under section Article 62(i)(f). The law deems it necessary for all members of Parliament to be ‘sadiq’ and ‘ameen’. They are prohibited from concealing information about their assets.

On the other hand, Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution says that “a person shall be disqualified from being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of Parliament if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.”

On October 17, 2018 two PML-N leaders were disqualified by the Supreme Court for holding dual nationalities. Sadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar had dual citizenship when they filed their nomination papers.