ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda was a dual national at the time of filing his nomination papers to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to contest the general elections in 2018, reported on Monday.
The country’s law says that dual nationals cannot submit nomination papers for elections or be elected as lawmaker.
The report reveals that Vawda filed his nomination papers on June 11, 2018 when he still held a US nationality. His papers were approved on June 18, 2018. The federal minister had filed papers to give up his US citizenship on June 22 and he was issued a certificate on June 25. The process usually takes weeks or months even, according to sources.
The same judgment has previously led to the disqualification of various lawmakers, notable among whom Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senators Saadia Abbasi and Haroon Akhtar.
In Vawda’s case, the last date to file the nomination papers for the July 2018 elections was June 11.
“For reasons to be recorded later, we hold and declare that both Haroon Akhtar and Saadia Abbasi were dual nationals on the date when they filed their nomination papers for the Senate elections,” Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had observed while dictating the order.
Both the members were disqualified under Article 63(1)(c) of the Constitution, which says that a person will be disqualified from being elected or chosen member of parliament if he ceases to be a citizen of Pakistan or acquires the citizenship of a foreign state.
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