ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), on Thursday, turned down an intra-court appeal of Senator Faisal Vawda seeking directions to restrain the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from proceeding against him in the disqualification case.

A division bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb on Thursday heard the appeal of Senator Vawda and dismissed it after hearing the arguments of the petitioner’s counsel.

During the hearing, Vawda’s lawyer Hasnain Ali Chohan argued that the opponent of his client in the Senate elections had filed a disqualification case on the basis of an affidavit submitted to the ECP.

Justice Miangul Hassan remarked that it was a requirement to submit affidavit along with the nomination papers of the candidate. He added that a person was still ineligible to hold the membership of Parliament, if he had submitted a false affidavit even in previous elections.

In response to a query of the bench, the lawyer said that the affidavit submitted by Vawda to the ECP was correct and his client had told the ECP as well in written statement.

Disqualification case: IHC rejects Faisal Vawda's petition against ECP's verdict

At this, Justice Farooq asked the lawyer that then there was no problem and let the ECP probe the affidavit. He remarked that Vawda also did not submit comments in the IHC even after one and a half year.

Later, the IHC bench dismissed the case and upheld the decision of single member bench, which had directed the ECP to conclude the case in 60 days.

In his ICA, Senator Vawda challenged the October 12 decision by which the ECP had rejected his plea for halting proceedings against him in the disqualification case. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf senator contended that the case against him in the ECP had become invalid, as the body had failed to take a decision within the prescribed time limit.

He further said that the single-member IHC bench comprising Chief Justice Athar did not consider the facts described in his plea for similar relief.

It was November 12 when the IHC chief justice dismissed his petition and noted that an application had been filed against Vawda within 60 days and called upon the senator to prove his innocence and let the ECP take action in accordance with the law, if he was clear.

In the application filed before the ECP in 2020, petitioner Dost Ali sought Vawda’s disqualification for hiding information related to his dual nationality. The applicant challenged his election as a member of the National Assembly on the ground that he allegedly also held American nationality when he filed his nomination papers for contesting the elections.

The petition stated that since Vawda had furnished an affidavit to the ECP to the effect that he was not a national of any other country at the time of contesting the elections, he had made a “false statement on oath”, hence he was disqualified under Article 62 (1)(f) of the Constitution. On the previous hearing, the ECP gave last chance to Senator Vawda to explain the concealment of his foreign nationality.

A three-member ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, while hearing the petition seeking disqualification of the ruling party senator for not disclosing his foreign nationality gave Vawda last chance and adjourned hearing till December 23. The CEC gave Senator Vawda the option to either submit his arguments to the commission in writing, in which case the bench would reserve its ruling or present the arguments himself, so that the bench could issue a verdict.

The PTI senator contended that he had possessed dual citizenship since birth. At this, the CEC pointed out the issue was whether he possessed dual citizenship at the time of filing his nomination papers for contesting the 2018 elections.

Vawda said that he had already surrendered his American passport, but in the same breath feigned ignorance about the law regarding renunciation of the nationality of any country. He maintained that he was unaware of the requirement to submit a renunciation certificate as well, saying he would try to obtain one.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021