SC fixes hearing of Faisal Vawda's plea against disqualification

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has fixed the hearing of a plea filed by former federal minister Faisal Vawda against his lifetime disqualification from parliament, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

A three-member bench of the apex court led by CJP Justice Umar Ata Bandia will hear the case on March 1.

PTI leader and former federal minister Faisal Vawda challenged his lifetime disqualification from Parliament in the Supreme Court on last Friday.

Vawda through his lawyer moved an appeal in the apex court assailing the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) Feb 16 verdict that dismissed his petition against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) decision of disqualifying him for concealing his US nationality at the time of contesting the National Assembly election in the 2018 elections.

Citing the election monitoring body and others as respondents in his appeal, he contended that the commission had no power to disqualify any politician for lifetime as it was not a court of law.

Also Read: Polling for Faisal Vawda’s vacant Senate seat on March 09

An ECP bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner Faisal Sultan Raja, had disqualified Vawda for concealing his dual nationality with a direction to return the salary and other benefits he had received as a minister and a National Assembly member within two months. He was also de-notified as a senator.