ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda sought the dismissal of petitions against him in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through a legal counsel on Tuesday, contending that the related reference of dual nationality case required to be routed through speaker National Assembly.
A full ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sultan Sikandar Raja and comprising of all the four ECP members - former Justice Altaf Ibrahim Qureshi, former Justice Irshad Qaiser, Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi heard the dual nationality case filed by Advocate Qadir Khan Mandokhel and others.
During the proceedings, the petitioners submitted their reply in the ECP regarding maintainability of the case. The petitioners contended that the ECP was the appropriate relevant forum to hear any case pertaining to disqualification of a lawmaker and cited previous precedents whereby the ECP disqualified the legislators found guilty of different legal and constitutional violations.
Vawda, through his counsel, contended that any reference against him seeking his disqualification needed to be routed through Speaker National Assembly in the light of Articles 63 (2) and 63 (3) of the Constitution of Pakistan. Vawda's counsel questioned the ECP's jurisdiction to directly hear the disqualification case without the involvement of speaker National Assembly.
Article 63 (2) and (3) respectively read, "(2) If any question arises whether a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) has become disqualified from being a member, the Speaker or, as the case may be, the Chairman shall, within thirty days from raising of such question refer the question to the Chief Election Commissioner.
(3) Where a question is referred to the Chief Election Commissioner under clause (2), he shall lay such question before the Election Commission which shall give its decision thereon not later than three months from its receipt by the Chief Election Commissioner."
The hearing of the case has been adjourned.
On July 28, the ECP fixed Aug 4 as the date to hear the petitions seeking Vawda's disqualification for allegedly concealing his dual nationality at the time of submitting his nomination papers for general elections held in July 2018.
The ECP issued an order which said it would issue a verdict based on the record submitted to the Commission if the respondents in the case do not submit their replies.
Earlier on July 20, the ECP also warned Vawda to submit his response with respect to dual nationality case against him within 15 days; otherwise, it would decide the case unilaterally. The Commission sought comments on the maintainability of petitions against the minister.
During the course of hearing on July 20, no one on behalf of the minister appeared before it. The ECP issued a notice to Vawda to submit his response to the petitions within 15 days. If the minister failed to submit his response, the ECP will decide the case unilaterally, it warned.
The petitions seek Vawda's removal from the public office under clause 62-1 (f) of the Constitution.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan in a past judgment categorically ruled that candidates who hold dual nationality are supposed to submit a renunciation certificate of the foreign nationality along with their nomination papers. The same judgment led to the disqualification of few lawmakers including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senators Saadia Abbasi, the sister of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Haroon Akhtar, the brother of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Humayun Akhtar.
Article 62 (1) (f) reads, "A person shall not be qualified to be elected or chosen as a member of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) unless :- (f) he is sagacious, righteous and non-profligate and honest and Ameen."
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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