Daily Times

KARACHI: A petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA-elect Faisal Vawda was submitted in the Sindh High Court on Thursday, according to media reports.

Vawda emerged as a winner from NA-249 (Karachi West II) defeating Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif with a narrow margin of 718 votes.

In his application Pakistan People’s Party’s Qadir Mandokhel claimed that the NA-249 (Karachi West II) winner omitted details of foreign bank accounts and properties in the affidavit submitted alongside the nomination papers. “The offshore assets were shown procured through debt, however, money trail of the properties was missing.”

The petition added that Vawda failed to pay taxes in the fiscal year of 2015-16 despite owning properties worth billions of rupees.

Recalling that an earlier application regarding dual nationality had been rejected by the returning officer, the PPP leader stressed that there was no record of Vawda surrendering his US citizenship.

Noting that Vawda violated Article 62 of the Constitution, Mandokhel requested the high court to disqualify the PTI leader.

Earlier, SHC sustained a petition filed by the former Punjab chief minister seeking a recount in NA-249 and restrain the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from issuing a final notification of the results. Shehbaz had claimed his polling agents were removed from the room during the vote count while the presiding officer issued results on a plain paper and not on Form 45 as per the law.

Sharif had requested the SHC to stay the ECP from issuing a notification on Vawda’s victory, secure records and order a recount.

Published in Daily Times, August 10^th 2018.