Daily Times

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved its decision on one of the petitions seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Senator Faisal Vawda, Daily times reported.

The ECP, on the other hand, dismissed the other petition, which sought his disqualification as well, due to a lack of review of the matter.

During the hearing, Qadir Mandokhel, the petitioner, said that this was the 23rd hearing of the case. “The election commission has been seeking answers from the senator for the past one and a half years, which he has not submitted as yet,” he regretted.

The chief election commissioner (CEC) asked the petitioner to complete his arguments, adding that the ECP was in no mood to give further time to Vawda to submit his reply in the case.

Mandokhel argued that the returning officer’s (RO) judgement in 2018 on the PTI senator’s dual citizenship was flawed. “Instead of rejecting Vawda’s nomination papers, the RO rejected my papers,” he said.

When Balochistan Member Shah Muhammad Jatoi questioned him about why he had not appealed the RO’s judgement in court before visiting the ECP, he said that he had not. “Please explain why you did not appeal the RO’s decision to the tribunal first,” he asked, reminding the petitioner that he had told the commission that he was finished with his arguments at the previous hearing, but that he had renewed them now.

On the other hand, Barrister Moeed, the PTI senator’s lawyer, began making his closing arguments in the case. When the attorney told the ECP that he had handed the RO the documentation cancelling his client’s passport, the CEC wondered if cancelling the passport meant relinquishing the other country’s citizenship.

The attorney went on to say that Pakistanis with dual nationality were not given computerized national identity cards (CNICs), despite the fact that Vawda was issued a CNIC by the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) on May 29, 2018, with proof presented to the authorities.

The CEC responded that the NADRA’s authority to issue CNICs would have to be investigated further. The NADRA granted the CNIC only after the Intelligence Bureau approved it, according to a lawyer for a PTI senator (IB).

Barrister Moeed argued that when his client was no more a member of the National Assembly (MNA), how he could be disqualified now. He accused Mandokhel of moving the ECP just for the sake of ‘media trial’ of the case.

Speaking on the occasion, Faisal Vawda said he was in the dark about the rules as a candidate for the seat of MNA. “I am being dragged into the case without any reason. Here I want to emphasize that the petitioner went straight to the election commission rather than knocking at the doors of a tribunal first,” he contended.