Dual citizenship: IHC accepts plea seeking Faisal Vawda’s disqualification

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday admitted a plea seeking disqualification of Water Minister Faisal Vawda for allegedly submitting a false affidavit before the election authority. Under Article 63(1) C of the Constitution, a member of the Parliament can be disqualified if he or she ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state. In the petition, the petitioner maintains that Faisal Vawda contested the election of National Assembly while submitting false declaration and hiding his dual nationality which makes him liable to be disqualified under the Constitution and law of the land. In his petition, Mian Mohmmad Faisal argues that Vawda held dual nationality at the time of filing his nomination papers to contest the 2018 general elections, hence, he is not “honest” and “Ameen” and should be removed from the position. Vawda won the National Assembly seat from Karachi’s NA-249 constituency in the 2018 polls against PML-N president Shehbaz Sharif and was later included in the cabinet of Prime Minister Imran Khan as a federal minister.