ECP notifies newly elected senators barring dual nationals

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued the notifications of the newly elected senators expect for those who allegedly holds dual nationalities.

The commission issued the notifications of 47 senators-elect after they submitted details of their assets.

Those who have been notified included eight senators-elect from Punjab, 12 from Sindh, 10 from Balochistan, 11 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two from Islamabad and four from the Federal Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

The electoral body withheld the notifications of five senators-elect, including Nuzhat Sadiq, Chaudhry Sarwar, Haroon Akhter, Sadia Abbasi and independent candidate Khuda Babar from Balochistan.

Their notification were stopped following the orders of the Supreme Court that had restrained the ECP from notifying them until they come clean on dual nationalities.

A day earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar directed three senators-elect to submit affidavits proving that they have surrendered their other nationalities permanently.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Chaudhry Sarwar, and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sadia Abbasi, sister of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, and Nuzhat Sadiq appeared before the bench.

They submitted documents to the bench hearing a suo motu case pertaining to dual nationalities to substantiate their claims of having renounced the nationality of other countries.