Polling for Faisal Vawda’s vacant Senate seat to be held on March 9

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the schedule for election on the Senate seat vacated after the disqualification of PTI leader Faisal Vawda.

The ECP had disqualified Faisal Vawda for lifetime under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution in a dual nationality case. The commission had also issued a notification for his subsequent win in Senate.

According to the ECP, polling for the vacant senate seat will be held on March 09 in the Sindh Assembly building. The candidates can submit their nomination papers from February 17 to 19. The lists of the candidates will be displayed at the office of the election commission on Feb 21. Scrutiny of nomination papers will be conducted on Feb 24, while appeals against the scrutiny decisions will be heard on Feb 28.

A three-member bench of the ECP, led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja had disqualified Vawda on a petition on Feb 9. The commission directed the PTI leader to return all the salaries and perks he received during his term as a federal minister and a member of the National Assembly.

Faisal Vawda has challenged his disqualification in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over false affidavit and concealing his dual nationality. The high court has reserved its verdict in the case today.

In the hearing at the IHC, Vawda’s counsel Advocate Waseem Sajjad appeared before a bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah. The lawyer based his case on the argument that the ECP is not a court of law and lacks authority to disqualify Vawda for life.

The counsel said the ECP cannot invoke Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution and disqualify Vawda for life. Justice Minallah remarked that the affidavit had been submitted in light of a Supreme Court’s order requiring a certificate for the renunciation of foreign nationalities.

The chief justice asked Advocate Sajjad to point out the flaw in ECP’s decision rather than on technical grounds. He went on to say that the apex court had issued the order itself on mandatory submission of the affidavit. The court warned of serious consequences if the statement in the affidavit was falsified.

Justice Minallah added that ECP was supposed to carry out the inquiry and send it to the apex court. The court told the lawyer to prove the arguments on the basis that Vawda didn’t hold dual nationality at the time of the affidavit’s submission. He also inquired about the date of renunciation of US citizenship.

The counsel maintained that the ECP can probe the authenticity of the affidavit but the procedure has to be taken into account. He said lifetime disqualification is a death sentence for a politician.

Justice Minallah remarked that many politicians have got the ‘death penalty’ and reserved the verdict on Vawda’s plea. It stated that Vawda can still reach out to the Supreme Court to challenge the verdict for his disqualification.