Disqualification plea against Faisal Vawda approved for immediate hearing

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday approved for immediate hearing a plea seeking disqualification of Federal Minister for Water and Power Minister Faisal Vawda. Justice Aamer Farooq has issued orders to the court’s registrar to set the hearing for July 15. Petitioner Mian Faisal is challenging Vawda’s appointment as the federal minister. His lawyer Barrister Jahangir Jadoon appeared in court on Friday with a request for a hearing next week. The petitioner has claimed that Vawda held US citizenship when he submitted his nomination papers. Earlier, the IHC admitted a plea seeking disqualification of 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 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.