ISLAMABAD: The Elec­tion Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday reserved its judgement on petitions seeking disqualification of PTI Senator Faisal Vawda over alleged concealment of his dual nationality.

A three-member bench of the commission, headed by Chief Election Commis­sioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, during the last hearing had given Mr Vawda the last chance to defend himself and explain his position.

The petitions against Mr Vawda said he was a dual national at the time of filing his nomination papers to contest 2018 general election. Mr Vawda submitted his nomination papers to the ECP on June 11, 2018 and had allegedly applied for renunciation of his US nationality days after that.

Qadir Khan Mandokhel, Mian Faisal and Mian Asif Mehmood subsequently filed petitions with the ECP seeking Mr Vawda’s disqualification.

During Thursday’s hearing, Barrister Moeed, counsel for Mr Vawda, submitted the senator’s birth certificate to the ECP. He said Mr Vawda was born in California and was a US citizen by birth. “Faisal Vawda got his foreign passport cancelled before submitting his nomination papers,” he said, adding that the senator had not lied.

A member of the bench however sought to know the date of the passport’s cancellation while the CEC wondered if the passport’s cancellation amounted to elimination of citizenship as well.

The lawyer said it was written in the returning officer’s (RO) order that the foreign passport was cancelled.

Mr Mandokhel said it was 23rd hearing in the ECP which had been seeking answers for the last one year and five months but had not received any.

“The RO gave a wrong order on dual citizenship in the 2018 [general] election. The RO rejected my [nomination] papers instead of rejecting Faisal Vawda’s,” Mr Mandokhel said.

Shah Mohammad Jatoi, a member of the bench, asked Mr Mandokhel if he had challenged the decision in any tribunal and told him to satisfy the bench on taking up the matter directly in the ECP.

The CEC remarked that Mr Mandokhel had said at the last hearing that arguments were complete but now he was mentioning new things.

Mr Vawda’s counsel argued that his client had obtained a normal identity card from the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) before 2018 elections. “Cancellation of his Nicop (National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis) and Nadra’s confirmation prove that he was not an American citizen,” he said.

The CEC questioned whether Nadra was authorised to verify whether anyone was a foreign citizen or not.

The lawyer responded that Nadra issued identity cards only after verification by the Intelligence Bureau.

Mr Vawda said that no dual citizenship holder had a normal identity card, adding that such an individual would not even be able to open a bank account.

“If Faisal Vawda is no longer an MNA, then how can he be disqualified on this petition?” his counsel argued. “Qadir Mandokhel deliberately approached the wrong forum to conduct a media trial,” Barrister Moeed said as he wrapped up his arguments.

Mr Vawda said that as a candidate for a National Assembly seat, he was not well informed about the law. “I am being dragged for no reason, the opponents did not go to any tribunal,” he said.

The ECP dismissed Mr Mehmood’s petition on grounds of non-compliance and reserved its verdict on the other petitions.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2021