ECP to hear Vawda’s disqualification plea on Feb 3

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is set to hear a plea seeking the disqualification of Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda on February 3, according to notice issued by the body on Saturday.

The petitioner, Qadir Mandokhel, has sought Vawda's disqualification on the grounds that he submitted a "fake undertaking" to the ECP. The petitioner alleges that the minister had hidden his dual citizenship while submitting his nomination papers for general elections 2018.

According to the ECP, notices have been issued to the concerned parties in the case. Earlier this week, an investigation carried out by The News showed that Faisal Vawda at the time of filing nomination papers on June 11, 2018, was an American citizen. That status was intact even during the scrutiny of nomination papers.

Vawda had held a US passport when he filed his nomination papers on June 11, 2018. The minister, it is claimed, was a US national even when the scrutiny of his nomination papers was completed.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a past judgment, has categorically ruled that candidates with dual nationalities are to submit a renunciation certificate of their foreign nationality (if any) along with their nomination papers. In Vawda’s case, the last date to file the nomination papers for the July 2018 elections was June 11.

Documents reportedly showed that Vawda submitted his election papers on the last date — June 11, 2018 — along with an affidavit in which he declared that he does not hold any citizenship other than that of Pakistan. The returning officer of Vawda’s constituency, NA-249 Karachi, had approved his nomination papers on June 18.

It was only after getting the approval that Vawda approached the US Consulate in Karachi to relinquish his US nationality. It means that the minister had purportedly been an American citizen at the time his candidature was finalised.